If everyday could be like this.

Sam cam over for dinner Tuesday night and we walked a few blocks to the kid-friendly neighborhood brew pub. Decent food and good beer and two enclosed play areas.

Four blocks of new spring leaves and trees in flower. The kids stopped to play on benches and balance one foot in front of the other along the tops of low brick walls. Lila hunted for dandelions, not hard to find, that she called sunflowers and picked a bouquet that made me sneeze.

Roxie and I slowed to our own pace. While Sam and Lila kept on ahead, she told me kindergarten tales from her day and stretched her arms long to reach low branches.

At dinner the girls came and went from the table to the play area, while we sipped on iced tea, chatted easily about our days, and waited for dinner.

It was almost picture perfect, the way we must have seemed to anyone looking on.

I remembered our friendship. How good the comfort of just hanging out can feel.

Roxie and Lila tipped their ice-cream bowls to let the last drips run into theirs mouths. We smiled without correcting their table manners or suggesting the bowls were empty.

The walk home was honey sunset sky behind us, glowing gold in the space between the blossoms. Kids and dogs and parents playing. Bikes and skateboards and basketballs.

No jackets and no cares and we were just another family out walking in spring.