In The Bunny Planet, a beautiful children’s book by Rosemary Wells, three bunnies, each experiencing a truly dreadful day, are whisked away to a place that lies “far beyond the moon and stars” to experience the day that should have been.
Don’t we all long for the day that should have been with the people we love?
I’ve imagined mine many times. It would look something like this: we are sitting on our favorite porch in Maine, the scent of sun-warmed pine needles and songs of warblers drifting up from the woods below. As the faint salt air rolls in from the water, we have, in-person, the conversation that I wrote in my last letter to her, in which I tell her that the thoughts filling her head may seem like monsters overtaking her life, but they are powerless against the truth of who she is- her worth and essence- which absolutely nothing can touch. This time, though, I watch realization soften her face and presence return to her eyes. We sit in silence for awhile, almost laughing at the absurd amount of power we humans so often hand over to our thoughts. Eventually the day calls us each in our own direction- me down the worn path to the sun-heated rocks on the beach, her toward the shade and a book she’s been meaning to finish.
There is no urgency, no dread, no sense that time is running out.
We will meet up again for the big family dinner planned that evening.
It is such a simple day, one I’ve wished for countless times.
What does the day that should have been look like for you?
Let yourself live inside it. Play it out until the end. Write the version you wish had happened, the moment where you believe it all could have changed.
I do this exercise all the time with clients. “Keep going,” I tell them. “Don’t stop at the turning point.” Because if we stay with it long enough, we realize what a fantasy it really is- there are some vital things that would have had to be different, and they simply weren’t. That is the heartbreak.
Some days it’s worth acknowledging and sitting with the beauty of what you longed for and the sadness of what actually was, even if only for a moment.
So let me be the first one today to tell you: you don’t deserve the pain you are carrying. What you truly deserve is the day that should have been. And even though you didn’t get that day- even though, in many ways, you received its opposite, you are still good. Still whole. And still deeply worthy of love, and of better days ahead. 🤍✨
©Leslie Hunt Palumbo, 2026. All right reserved.
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