This blog post (in Russian) tells a story of a young woman that really loves the first day of winter, when the first snow falls. The author suggests that if there was a chance, this woman would have chosen the first day of winter to live through again and again, like the character of Phil, played by Bill Murray in the excellent movie “Groundhog Day“.
The author of that story also asks an interesting question. If you had a choice, which would be the day you’d choose to live through and through, like in that movie. If you could pick any day at all, which one would that be?
For me personally it is a hard choice indeed. I love and cherish every day of my life. Except for, maybe, Mondays. I’ve had plenty of excellent days over the years and I can’t really pick one of them. But if I had to, I guess I’d have to go with the 1st of January, the New Year Day. Why? Well …
I am Russian and Russian celebrate the New Year like nobody else. It’s one of the biggest holidays in our culture. We eat, we drink, we have fun, and everybody stays up until very late. Until early morning even. 1st of January is a public holiday. No matter which day of the week it is, you don’t need to go to school or work. Since everyone stayed up late, most people sleep through the morning, waking up in the afternoon. This is probably the only day when I am not standing out in this regard, when I’m not the only one who loves waking up past midday.
Oh, and then there is food and television. 31st of December is the evening of celebrations. We prepare lots of food. We call plenty of guests. We dress nicely. We behave. It’s all nice, but it’s a tiny bit too official and tiring. On the 1st of January though, it’s totally different. It’s the relax time. There is still plenty of food and drinks from yesterday. Whoever survived the drunk night is not in the mood for any official behavior. People under-dress, grab food, and spend a lot of time in front of the television watching entertainment shows or movies, taking short naps in between.
By the evening, people, and people I of course mean myself, are often recovered enough to take a short walk. Time to see friends or relative or visit the nearest pub. Slight tough upon the yesterday celebration with an attempt to reconstruct the chain of events from a collective memory. And then early bed time.
I think that year on year, 1st of January is the closest day to a perfect one. So if I had a choice to live through one day time after time after time, I’d choose that day. Gladly, of course, I actually do have a chance to do so. It’s just that I have to wait a year in between.
What day is your candidate for the Groundhog Day?