Monday 17 August 2015

More moments like this, please


John just asked about when we were happiest or - more precisely - are we happy at all.

I thought back to a very brief and insignificant moment a few years ago, when I was lying on my back on a small lawn just out of town, staring up at the sky on a clear, Summer day.

I could see for miles through the atmosphere, and I could hear the conversation of everyone who is closest to me in my life, coming through some open French windows. A cat was lying right beside me and there were some birds, circling on a thermal so high that they looked like dots against the deep blue sky.

My actual thought was, 'If I am going to die soon, I really want it to be now'. Of course, I had no intention of dying, but just for that moment I could not think of a better time to go. It wasn't through any dissatisfaction with life - just the opposite.


18 comments:

  1. Nothing special, just ordinary moments. The cat adds a nice touch. I feel content and happy just reading about it.

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  2. Yes, those moments are precious and very important to remember.

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    1. Shame they cannot be conjured at will.

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    2. Their memory stops us from pretending we are aaalways unhappy...

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  3. Cloud watching
    A simple pleasure of mine

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    1. It was a pleasure of Blue Beard's as well - see Huysman's 'Against Nature'.

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  4. Yes, moments like that are precious and one could die happy.

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  5. On the whole I would say I am happy almost all of the time Tom.

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  6. I always wake happy, but it's usually down hill after that (depending on who I encounter during the day).

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    1. Me too. I feel warm to all people until I go outside and actually see them.

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  7. I should be feeling very happy because Mr EM has, at last, hung a wonderful painting he bought for me six months ago. It is now in almost my direct line of sight from my end of the sofa. Despite that and it's size (2ft 6ins by 3ft) I didn't notice it until about three hours after I returned from shopping. So now feeling rather mortified especially as it's a glorious scene from our early married life 1970s Chelsea.

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    1. You didn't notice for 3 hours?!

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    2. So awful. At first I was busy having a heated discussion about a TV programme we were watching then doing some urgent research on the laptop and it was only when I put the damn thing down that I looked up properly and noticed the painting. But still I can't understand how I missed it. Nor how Mr EM kept schtumm. (Actually the TV, that we inherited from our son when he emigrated, is almost the same size as the painting - it is far too intrusive but we secretly love it.)

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  8. One of my dad's favourite bon mots was "what makes you think you were put in this world to be happy?"

    I decided over the years it wasn't as miserablist as it sounds. As Andy Warhol said: " As soon as you stop wanting something you get it. I've found that to be absolutely axiomatic."

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    Replies
    1. Usually true, until it comes to sex with 25 year olds.

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