A Note to Myself : On Happiness

This is so I don't forget, as I often do. Like that one time I went to Target for trash bags and came home with hand weights, clothes soap, and a pack of Nerds…without the trash bags. Yea, this is kinda like that. Sometimes I run so fast I forget what each step feels like, the weight of my dreams crunching softly underfoot, so this entry is for a day in the future when I can look back and say, yes, I remember what happiness feels like.

We spread out a terry cloth blanket and waited for the fireworks to begin. I sat indian-style and Polo curled in between my legs like he was a potted plant and my legs were his container. We sat in Laguna Beach and the sky filled with bright colors, each explosion in the sky reminding us of freedom.

At the end of the show, I laid on the blanket and closed my eyes. JD and Polo walked along the shoreline and when they returned, I looked up into a black sky. We curled together in the darkness and listened to the waves crash, people laugh, and sparklers fizzle into smoke.

JD asked, Are you happy? I nodded. Good. This is what happiness feels like. Let's not forget it, ever. It was then when I realized I forgot what each step felt like, the weight of my dreams crunching softly underfoot, and the importance of each moment to simply be. Under a canopy of stars and lingering smoke, I memorized how happy felt.