Happiness

A friend of mine sent me a message telling me how happy she is with her new boy. It sounds amazing not because I'm not familiar with the feelings, but amazing because I never really thought about how it feels to hear about other people's happy thoughts. I thought telling people how happy you are with someone would come across as smug and sentimental but actually as I was reading her email I didn't think she was being as such. Hearing how happy she was just made me feel happy, too, because I could sense the genuine delight she was feeling at finding someone who she could relate to. And while I felt a little bit of trepidation for her sake ("take it a step at a time, dearie") this didn't stop me from wishing her good luck with this one - why shouldn't she fall head over heels? She is happy and while no one can guarantee how long this will last, at least for the time being there is no reason for her not to be.

I know of a couple who celebrated the birth of their first child two months ago. The father is in his fifties, and he was overjoyed - it seemed life had finally given him a chance to settle down with someone he loved. Last week, the baby died. I was very saddened by this untimely death, not just because it is always sad when such a young thing dies but also because I felt that it was so cruel - they had managed to meet, been given a lucky break in the form of a beautiful baby girl, only to have it all snatched away from them. But then, as M. says to me sometimes, bad things can happen to good people. No one ever guaranteed that life was going to be fair.

So it seems that happiness can be a fleeting thing. All the more reason to make sure you grab opportunities to enjoy it while you can, and maybe even make efforts to keep it while you can. I wonder if I'm doing enough for my chances of happiness - doing the small things right at least?