I think that happiness, unlike sadness is often overlooked in our discontented minds. I remember when I was little that finding a penny and stopping by the store for a penny’s worth of candy was happiness to me. It lasted as long as the candy did but I was left with a sweet memory. We find the same happiness today when we buy a pair of two hundred dollar pair shoes, or in my case a piece of junk that would be perfect in my house. The happiness probably lasts about as long as it took to devour that piece of penny candy. And then we are looking for something else to bring us happiness. Mama found great happiness in little things, just as the other old people did, a flower blooming, working on a quilt or the first ripe tomato in her garden. Pap loved to make a good gnat smoke and he would sit in a cane bottom chair all rared back, his wrinkled old hands folded in front of him and enjoyed the fruits of his labor, a chaw of baccer in his mouth.
Granny sometimes smoked a little corn cob pipe that someone gave her. She would sit in front of the fireplace or on the front porch and enjoy a few minutes of peace and happiness. It showed in every line of her face. She had suffered greatly in her lifetime but she still searched and found happiness.
My dad found laughter and happiness In telling stories, usually ones that pointed to him as the villain and he was good at laughing at himself. We used to smile when we would see him sitting around thinking and then he would laugh to himself and tell us something he had just thought about. His happiness was simply finding laughter in the sad world that was his.
I think I find happiness in simplicity…a child’s laughter, a good book, a sky full of stars, rain beating on the window panes and I still find happiness in a piece of candy that reminds me of yesterday. Or a great cup of coffee! With tThanksgiving nearly on us I hope you will think on what makes you happy.
