I love the play OUR TOWN by Thornton Wilder. I taught it several years to high school students. I have seen numerous stage productions. It is one of my favorite plays. In the play, Emily gets to go back and relive a day. She chooses, if I remember correctly, her twelfth birthday. She is excited about going back on this special day. However, she finds that the reliving the day does not live up to her expectations. Yes, she loves the day and loves seeing her parents and remembering the little things that happened that day. However, in the end, she was somewhat disappointed. Her parents were much younger and it seemed that all of the family did not understand the importance of the day. Is it possible for us to live each day understanding what is happening and why? I think we can never go back and relive a day if we take the knowledge and experience that we have today back with us on this special day. As Emily found, the most ordinary day turns out to be one of the grandest days of her life; she recognized the grandness of the day because she is reflecting upon it. It winds up being depressing to her because, at the time, she did not recognize that ordinary day as being one of the grandest days of her life. In truth, none of us do.
Nathaniel Hawthorne writes in a short story about four friends who are able to go back in time and relieve a day. The four friends find that you cannot go back and relive a day. Unfortunately even knowing what you know in the present, you will go back and make the same mistakes.
So really, I cannot pick one day, and I am glad. Every day with its sorrows and happiness is a building block for the next day. I remember many happy times; luckily I have forgotten some of the sad moments. Yet at the time, these sad moments added to my ability to face the future. I think that I had rather keep the picture of that day in my mind as I remember it, instead of finding out that my memories are all wrong.