Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Definitions

Webster defines happiness as: an agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind. And the word hippie is described as: a person who opposes and rejects many of the conventional standards and customs of society; one who promotes a world of peace and love.
 So, one would assume from the title of my blog that my marriage has been a giant syrupy ball of euphoric harmony.
But, of course you would be wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

What Webster failed to tell us is two important facts. 1. happiness is time sensitive. And 2. happiness has no boundaries.
I've learned about the time sensitive quirk of happiness from personal experience. For example: A joke that my husband told me when we first met may have caused me to burst with laughter, feel giddy and young, make happiness swell up inside my heart...provoke me to smile like a toothy idiot.
However, after some time has passed (almost 38 years), him telling the very same joke may make me want to stuff a huge feather pillow into his freaking mouth and shut him in the closet.

So, you see what I'm saying here?

Also, the boundaries of happiness are constantly changing. Just like a thermometer. Up and down. Cold and hot. As a newlywed, happiness was having an extra twenty dollars left over after paying the bills. Oh, joy, joy! That money meant we could splurge on a drive-in movie, pizza, or a new record album. We were thrilled. Happy.
Yet, today that twenty dollars would depress me. My happiness would be waaaaay down on the happiness scale. Not to mention it could possibly cause a famous "budget fight" -which have repeatedly proved to be a solid hour of tears, innuendos, curses and wasted time. And that's never good.

As for the "hippie" part... well, we all have our own conception of that word. To me, it was a gentle man who made me see the sweetness in days, who was not overbearing or pretentious, who made life burst with excitement  and color... and won my heart in the summer of '75.

And that is sorta what this blog is all about. Those peaks and valleys of life, love and family. The diversity and variation of happiness. And the long-haired, bell-bottomed hippie who is now a clean-shaven guy whose jokes still make me smile.

Welcome.





 

4 comments:

  1. Yay!! Looking forward to reading you again!!!!

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  2. So glad you and your wonderful writing are back...have missed your stories terribly.
    I relate with the changing of time and love. What I used to be able to just use a tiny smile to respond with has now been building into a heavy weight in my heart. Tears may be the next step in this relationship. But I have been able to sit down with my man and finally share SOME of the things that cause pain in my heart and soul. It is hard...he doesn't even know his words are hurting me cause I try so hard to hide my feelings. They have begun to be to heavy for me to carry anymore so I was finally able to share them but there are still a few hidden deep down in my heart that will stay away for a while yet. After reading your post it helped me realize that all of my 'stuff'' is normal and I really am okay. Thank you for that.
    Hugs,Gail

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  3. I've missed you, my friend!

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