Back when it happened, I don’t think I went into detail, but thinking about it now, I can’t remember why I didn’t say more about it, because the day I left my last “real” job was, hands down, the best day of my entire life.

I didn’t go into detail then and it seems silly to go into detail now, but the way that things went down that day could not have been more perfect, as far as I’m concerned.

I walked out of there and got in my car, and I headed home early in the day, and I called Phil to tell him. And then I laughed. I laughed all the way home, all the way through 495 and 270 and inexplicable mid-work day DC traffic.

Not because anything was particularly funny. But because I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt that good. “Good” seems to be a pretty generic, weak descriptor, but really – there’s not a better word for it. I felt good, and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Not comedic laughter, not nervous laughter, but “Holy crap, my life has gone from sucking so hard that my soul is leaking out through my pores day by day to 100% better in a split second” kind of laughter. I don’t know if that’s a real kind of laughter, but that’s what it was.

I went home and I sat on my bed, and I didn’t sit around thinking about what had happened. I played video games. I called my friends. And every once in a while, completely at random, I’d start laughing again. Just 24 hours earlier I don’t think I could have imagined my life being more miserable and difficult, and it was such a complete 180 that I almost felt like I had whiplash. The only negative feeling in the whole rest of that day was the sudden realization that I could have done this ages ago. That was the only down point in the most amazing day of my entire life.

Maybe I should say “days,” because as fantastic as that drive home was, and as surreal as the rest of that day was, waking up the next morning was a whole different kind of unbelievable.

I laughed some more. I posted on my blog. I stretched out on my bed and watched TV and played video games and never felt the slightest bit of guilt.

Well, maybe a little guilt, for the two employees that I considered to be friends that I left behind there, but – spoiler alert – neither of them work there any more, either.

It’s kind of hard, I guess, to pick one “best day” out of all of those, because it felt like one great big long “best day” stretched out over weeks.

It took a long time for that “best day” to wear off. Even now, I can still call up that exact feeling because, over a year and a half later, I am still that happy to no longer be in that situation.

There’s another side to it, too, though, where after a while, my glee started to be a bit tainted with anger – anger that a person would ever think it’s okay to treat people that way, anger about being lied to and about, and anger at myself for not walking out the door the first time I was called stupid.

Now, let that be a lesson to you, Internet – if your boss ever calls you stupid, just pack your shit and leave right then because even if you are stupid – which you’re not – no one can talk to you like that, even if in their own twisted world they believe it’s their right.

Anyway, Internet, the fact that I had that best day, even though that specific day is over, has allowed me to call up that feeling of overwhelming glee whenever I want. I can pull up that memory at any time, and I always smile, if not outright start laughing.

I know that if I ask you to tell me about your best days, I’m going to get a lot of “the day I got married” and “the day I had my kid,” but I want to hear more than that – not that those can’t count as best days, but I want to know why, specifically.

Because don’t get me wrong – I am excited to get married to Phil, and I’m looking forward to our wedding day, but I already know that making a happy situation somewhat happier is not going to top my already entrenched “best day.” It’s going to be a good day – a great day – for sure. But it’s not going to top the day I left that job.

So I want to hear about your best day ever, the one that you can’t imagine ever being topped – whether it was your wedding, or your kid (though I find it hard to believe that a day spent almost entirely in pain could qualify as best, but hey, I don’t have kids, so what do I know), or a day spent with friends, or when you won the lottery or just a day when every single thing seemed to go your way.

Let’s hear it, Internet. Tell me about the best day of your whole life.