Today has been one of those perfect days. A day I can’t imagine living anywhere else in the whole wide world. I’m completely content and satisfied to live in this little corner of the universe.

The sun was shining. Every yuppie baby living in the Elmwood Village found themselves pushed around in SUV sized strollers. Happy young couples holding hands. I spied a family. Or 27. The bookstore was charming. The coffee (mocha house blend) was delicious. The park was brimming with young people, old people, dogs on leashes ready to give kisses. Everything was perfect.

I could live here forever and die happy.

I went to Shakespeare in Delaware Park (2nd largest in the country, thank you Buffalo!) Henry the IV Part 1, not the most exciting play but the day was so perfect I couldn’t let it end.

Erin and I walked to the park with my quillo, a bottle of wine and bag of Doritos (yes, that was dinner but…Lo! there was a hot dog stand,so we indulged) and watched Saul Elkin and friends perform. The play was most excellent. A shock really, I somehow made it through Shakespeare in college without reading a majority of the history plays. I assumed it would be Boring.

And lordy, lordy the man who played Sir Henry Perry, Hotspur was divine. Gorgeous, strong willed smartass character with HUGE stage presence… Mr. Paul Todaro, good job! Standing O!

Paul also played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing last year…which was also most brilliant! That gorgeous grin is hard to resist and forget, no? And man, he demands the audience attention when he’s on that stage. You have no choice but be drawn into his charms.

..and he will be playing Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew!!! Which is the next production in July!

And to top of the most perfect day…there was a wedding at the Delaware Park Marcy Casino, a lovely building nestled between Hoyt Lake and Shakespeare Hill in Delaware Park as well as the rose garden (which is looking exceptionally pretty this season! Thank you Olmsted parks!)

Ahhhhh. A most delightful dream I have of being married there…close to the Art Gallery and the History Museum, the lake, the park, the drama, the garden. If I marry outside of football season, that is… (ahem!)

It is an honour I dream not of…

Alas.

The entire time the sun was setting on this most perfect day I couldn’t help but wonder why the one…the one that I want, a *possible* complement to my souls desire…belongs with someone who will whisk me away from this perfection I’ve come to know as my home. Home where everyone knows my name, home with family and friends nearby.

But home is where my heart is…and my heart, alas…my heart.