Do you know where your happy place is? I’m asking because I was trying to conjure up my happy place while I was in my dentist’s chair on Monday. I kept searching for my happy place so I could relax and unclench my feet, hands, face and every other muscle in my body. I don’t like going to the dentist, can you tell? But I hated to let my angst show because my dentist was humming along happily to the piped-in music and thoroughly enjoying his drill and fill work.
Anyway, you know the saying that when you are experiencing pain or fright or depression you should seek out your happy place? Well, I was wondering all afternoon after leaving the dentist’s where my personal happy place was.
Maybe you can have more than one happy place - you suppose? One place that came to mind for me is Fortuna, California, where I attended high school. A lot of my friends couldn’t wait to graduate from high school, but I might have been glad to stay there forever. I was well liked by students and teachers, I was involved in extra-curricular activities, I had a job, a car and a steady girlfriend. I came of age in Fortuna.
Another happy place might be anywhere I can sit quietly and read a good book - usually a trashy detective novel. Robert B. Parker’s books are one of my favorites. I once spent a few days at a friend’s cabin in the interior of Canada near 100-Mile House, if you know where that is. It was so quiet there as I sat out on the deck looking over the lake. The only sounds were the stirring of a light breeze in the trees and the cry of a lonely loon.
I’ve never cared for the beach bum life so that’s not a happy place for me to go. I prefer inland. Montana, where Kathleen’s family live might be a happy place. Every time we travel there her family members show me a different town or area of the state and man, there are some beautiful wide-open spaces in Montana, some pretty awe-inspiring sights.
As maudlin and hum-drum as it might sound, one of my really happy places is with Sam lying beside me on the couch while I sip a cup of coffee and slowly wake up to the new day. Having Sam in my life is incredibly comforting. I have to admit though, that I constantly worry about whether I am being a good enough friend and (dare I say?) master to him.
Another happy place would be sitting with my wife and kids at a backyard barbecue under some shade trees with a big spread of yummy food and a big bunch of family and friends sitting around eating, drinking, yakking, laughing and thoroughly enjoying each other’s company.
Actually, at the risk of getting all preachy on you and making you feel like I’m pushing my religion on you, I have to admit that one of my happiest places of all though is an imaginary clearing in some quiet woods where I find Jesus sitting on a tree stump waiting to comfort me. It is so wonderful to contemplate laying my head in his lap, soaking up his divine forgiveness and feeling my worldly cares just slump away.
If you don’t have a happy place, may you find one very soon. I would recommend a place like one of the above. That’s the straight poop. Amen!
Anyway, you know the saying that when you are experiencing pain or fright or depression you should seek out your happy place? Well, I was wondering all afternoon after leaving the dentist’s where my personal happy place was.
Maybe you can have more than one happy place - you suppose? One place that came to mind for me is Fortuna, California, where I attended high school. A lot of my friends couldn’t wait to graduate from high school, but I might have been glad to stay there forever. I was well liked by students and teachers, I was involved in extra-curricular activities, I had a job, a car and a steady girlfriend. I came of age in Fortuna.
Another happy place might be anywhere I can sit quietly and read a good book - usually a trashy detective novel. Robert B. Parker’s books are one of my favorites. I once spent a few days at a friend’s cabin in the interior of Canada near 100-Mile House, if you know where that is. It was so quiet there as I sat out on the deck looking over the lake. The only sounds were the stirring of a light breeze in the trees and the cry of a lonely loon.
I’ve never cared for the beach bum life so that’s not a happy place for me to go. I prefer inland. Montana, where Kathleen’s family live might be a happy place. Every time we travel there her family members show me a different town or area of the state and man, there are some beautiful wide-open spaces in Montana, some pretty awe-inspiring sights.
As maudlin and hum-drum as it might sound, one of my really happy places is with Sam lying beside me on the couch while I sip a cup of coffee and slowly wake up to the new day. Having Sam in my life is incredibly comforting. I have to admit though, that I constantly worry about whether I am being a good enough friend and (dare I say?) master to him.
Another happy place would be sitting with my wife and kids at a backyard barbecue under some shade trees with a big spread of yummy food and a big bunch of family and friends sitting around eating, drinking, yakking, laughing and thoroughly enjoying each other’s company.
Actually, at the risk of getting all preachy on you and making you feel like I’m pushing my religion on you, I have to admit that one of my happiest places of all though is an imaginary clearing in some quiet woods where I find Jesus sitting on a tree stump waiting to comfort me. It is so wonderful to contemplate laying my head in his lap, soaking up his divine forgiveness and feeling my worldly cares just slump away.
If you don’t have a happy place, may you find one very soon. I would recommend a place like one of the above. That’s the straight poop. Amen!
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