The situation in the world right now is, in a word, bad. The ills of the world are many - the Iraq situation in all of its ugly shades, the price of a gallon of either gas or milk (take your pick), the neverending battle that is the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, my truck having a flat tire, <insert your own miserable misfortune here>, etc etc etc. I tell ya, it is enough to get a man or woman down.
I’m also here to tell you, though, that we’ve each had one singular moment when we were happiest…there was a moment when things couldn’t have possibly gotten any better. Thinking back on that moment may help get us through some of the rougher patches.
Mine is, without a doubt, the moment I first held Lilly, Queen of the Universe. I was very reluctant to become a father. My now ex-wife was a recovering alcoholic and we were both sort of fumbling around trying to fit her tender sobriety into a new house (with the attached new mortgage), and a new and very, very stressful job for me. And now, just for shits and giggles, we’ll add a new person. All of that fell away when I got to hold a squirmming little new person, cleaned up pretty well but still “hot out of the oven,” that was pure and good and fresh. I was completely entranced - completely mesmerized. I even told the doctor that he could now retire, as he had delivered the world’s most perfect child and that any further efforts on his part were going to be a big letdown. He thanked me for the career advice and told me “I guess it would be pointless to tell you that you should try not to spoil her.”
So, in an effort to get the endorphins rolling around in your collective melons, tell us when **you’ve ** been happiest. It’ll probably do us all a world of good.