*Beginning in 2010, I started writing a bi-weekly column, “From Richard’s Oft Cluttered Desk” which appears every other Wednesday.

Life is worth living when you have a Saturday like I did. Over the course of about ten hours, I experienced nearly every human emotion there is. The only thing that didn’t happen is an election victory and a Super Bowl championship.

The day began with a drive home to my family for a much needed and long-overdue meeting. It with stressful. It was emotional. There were times when it was silent and painful. But it was also a personal celebration. It was my Advocate Love day, and will forever be that in my life. I wrote about my liberation day before and this was different. I finally stood up for myself. The day would have been full with just that. It was certainly a new emotion.

I could liken the experience to something “out of body.” When you think about a moment so much and prepare with every fiber of your being, when it’s over, it is almost a feeling of disappointment. ‘That was all I was worked up for?’ But in the end, the emotions were real.

And later in the day, I attended a dinner party with an amazing and energetic group of people. And the best part … there were two and three times my age. But they made me smile. They energized me. They offered happiness and laughter.

Lastly, I spent the evening with one of my best friends. I picked him up from the airport. He made fun of me. I made fun of him. We ate pizza and drank beer. I’m 26 and he’s 24 and it was the perfect night. In fact, we never left the kitchen. We just talked and laughed and thought and laughed some more. Oh, and maybe I made fun of the beer he was drinking.

A full day. But it’s quite simple why this is worthy of a column. Days like this give me reason to keep going. They give me hope and peace.

In between my family and the dinner party I went to a park near my parents’ home. It was chilly and I didn’t have a jacket, but I sat on a picnic table next to the river. It was peaceful and it reminded me of my childhood. I spent countless hours in this park. We played near the pond, the merry-go-round, the slides and many summer afternoons feeding the deer.

As tears stung my face, I watched the water go by before me. There was a man fishing about 50 feet up-river. I watched for a moment, wondering if he had caught anything. I thought back to the days of skipping rocks across the river with my brother and father. It made me smile. The day made me smile.

Life is funny like that. Even in one of my darkest hours, I was able to smile and enjoy life. More importantly, I chose to live it and not let others live it for me. After over four years, that’s something for me to smile about.