One Day: Love, Friendship & The Power of an Unremarkable Moment
During a particularly long road trip (16 hours, but who’s counting?), I rewatched One Day, Netflix’s beautiful, heartbreaking love story of Dex & Em. The story unfolds over two decades, checking in on them on the same day each year, revealing the subtle ways their lives intersect, drift apart, and come back together.
Watching it again, knowing how it ends (no spoilers, but grab tissues), made it even more impactful. If you haven’t watched One Day yet, drop everything and watch it. It will get you thinking deeply about love, time, and fate. It’s beautiful because the moments were perfectly ordinary, and yet, they meant everything. Suddenly, all those tiny, seemingly inconsequential moments between the main characters carried so much more weight. The glances, the offhand remarks, the quiet, everyday moments that, when pieced together, tell a love story shaped by time and place. Right person, wrong time. Right time, wrong person. And then—finally—the stars align.
But more than anything, One Day is about friendship and growth. It's about how we evolve, learn, and sometimes struggle through rough patches, only to come out stronger on the other side. And as I enter my 19th year of marriage, riding shotgun for this 16-hour journey from Idaho to California, I couldn’t help but reflect on that. Because, while love is grand and passion is great, being friends with your forever person is everything. And it’s not always a given.
If I Had to Pick One Day
Not the big, obvious days—weddings, births, celebrations. But a day that, in the moment, felt completely unremarkable yet changed everything.
For me, that day was January 17, 2006. I remember it vividly, though at the time, it felt like nothing. I was limping into my first physical therapy appointment with a completely blown-out knee, late, sweaty, frazzled, and completely unprepared. I wore jeans—a ridiculous choice, considering I was supposed to be getting my knee examined. (For what it’s worth, my toes looked fantastic—I had a fresh purple pedicure.)
And then around the corner came this handsome, tall guy with piercing blue eyes and a kind smile.
"Hi, I’m Jay. Nice to meet you."
Later, I would learn that his personal mantra was, "If you are on time, you are late!", which made my frazzled, jeans-wearing, sweaty, limping entrance all the more ridiculous in hindsight. But in that moment, despite my tardiness, he greeted me with kindness and professionalism, setting aside what I now know was a deep-seated irritation for lateness. And just like that, in the space of a few seconds, my life veered onto a completely different track. I still have January 17 marked in my calendar as "First Meeting," and every year when I see it, I smile. Because that was the day everything changed—even if I had no idea at the time.
(Special thanks to a certain friend—you know who you are—for the ultimate PT referral! Truly, without you, I might still be limping around, with a truly terrible haircut, missing my meet-cute moment entirely.)
When I started thinking about this post, I scrolled through my photos to see if I had any taken on a January 17. And this is what popped up—a snapshot that instantly made my insides feel warm and fuzzy. Just a regular Happy Hour in the Courant Household, taken on January 17, 2013. #1 Son, all of three years old, sipping juice from his prized Spiderman glass, and Hubby, most likely, enjoying a Paloma or a Whisky Sour. I think both drinks might even have a delicious cocktail cherry at the bottom. No grand event, no major milestone—just a tiny, ordinary moment frozen in time. And yet, looking back, it feels like everything.
What Would Your One Day Be?
If you had to pick one day—a moment that changed your trajectory—what would it be?
Would it be the day you met your future spouse, or maybe a day you left a spouse or partner? A job interview that led you somewhere unexpected? The call telling you the cancer was gone? The moment you lost someone and everything shifted? Or maybe it was a moment of personal growth—a day where everything seemed to be falling apart, but in hindsight, it was setting you up for something greater?
We spend so much time thinking of big milestones, but time is constantly evolving, and sometimes it’s those quiet, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that truly change everything.
So take a second. Think about it. What would be your One Day?
I haven’t been able to stop hearing Jay’s voice in my head saying “Housekeeping!” a la Mrs. Doubtfire since the Valentine’s Day post. So thanks for that.
Hmmm, small moments. It makes me think of certain conversations with the boys that didn’t seem big but where they showed me more of who they are (Jamie telling me why he picked me at the mom store, bc I was smaller than everyone else 😆; Robbie telling me he thinks he’s “rare”). The first time Preston told me he loved me.
One Day pjs and wine movie night soon with bpb then?
What came to mind for me wasn’t exactly an ordinary day, so I suppose it’s more about how he showed up for me. Early in our relationship I was in the ICU for a week. It was scary and awful. But he came to the hospital every day, sat next to me, talked to doctors, talked to my family, printed out big photos of my girls and happier times and taped them up where I could see them, filled my room full of bright flowers and just….was there. That was the most important part. He was there and I could count on him. ❤️