Happiness

The title of this blog came from the musical You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. In our world, there exists so many different interpretations of what happiness truly is. It appears that some feel that happiness comes from economic prosperity or doing what feels good. Or for all of you Wicked fans out there, "Happy is what happens when all your dreams come true." My personal opinion is that happiness comes by living right and clean lives.

Looking through Windows

Monday, May 13, 2013


This was my Mother’s Day gift to my wife, Elisabeth, who will soon be a mother herself.

The Shoe Horn and the Chair

A once clothes-scattered room with carefully hung, mismatched pictures was now full of boxes and echoes. A kitchen, once a place of hearty laughter, feasts of plenty and heartfelt expressions of love was reduced to scrubbed countertops and bare cupboards. The windows, which looked out into a beautiful, forested landscape and a bright future, now reflected inwardly to bountiful days of a bygone era. One by one—a box, a broom, a vase—the objects were carried away, leaving shadows of memories in corners and closets.

Through a window, a teasing breeze of spring air swirled throughout the house interrogating every nook. Playfully uncovering secrets from the past as it went, the breeze whispered gently into a room with only one curiosity: a chair. In a fanciful twist, the breeze surrounded the chair and probed its quiet memories. The faded floral pattern and worn upholstery remained silent, seemingly unwilling to yield an answer. So the teasing persisted.

A quiet and reminiscently happy melody started from within. Rays of sunshine danced like ballerinas in response. The somber atmosphere melted away at the touch of these light-filled, pirouetting sprites. In the corner, a tree with white flowers appeared, and the mantle became an arbor dressed with roses. The sprites continued their joyful dance until suddenly the room blossomed into a spring wedding. The guests, in their periwinkle-accented attire, gazed at the blissful couple, cheering, laughing and crying all at the right times. Of course, promises were made, joy was tangible, and love was sealed.

The sprites changed their dance and the wedding faded away leaving only a faded-floral chair and shoe horn in a drafty, two-room flat. The chair was hers, the shoe horn, his. With everything else left to work, love, and faith, the couple began their new life.

The scene changed again as the music pierced the air. A cry of pain. A surge of anxiety and excitement. He reached for the shoe horn and then the suitcase. She could only sit in her chair, careful breaths. Then tears of joy and relief at the sound of a newborn cry. It was a girl.

Again the music soared. Another cry of pain. Again he reached for the shoe horn and the suitcase, while she sat in her chair. Happiness followed as three went to four, five...

One by one, the children left just as they’d come. Only to return, with more of their own.

There were many comings and goings. The shoe horn was there for each adventure’s inauguration, and the chair was there for every day’s finale. He was her beginning, she was his end. Together, they cheered, laughed and cried all at the right times.

The sprites then stood still. There was nothing to say. The shoe horn was broken, beyond all repair. His eyes slept forever. Hers wept just the same in the faded, old chair.

She brought just a chair to the marriage. Just a chair? Times one hundred and two! For she gave so much comfort, peace, and completion to him. And he had just a shoe horn, too.

With one final note, the sprites bowed to a close. The memories dissolved and the breeze had its answer. In a twist of delight, it fled to the night. The room was now empty and no chair was in sight.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Perspective

Do you ever feel that you've been looking through dirty windows? I know that happens to me sometimes. I like this movie because it reminds me that I need to be better and not judge so quickly.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Shopping Cart!

Being in the Midwest has its perks. For example, it's humid, so I don't have to pay to go to a sauna, I just have to walk outside. Also, we have some pretty crazy thunder storms. I've already seen two intense ones.

My favorite experience however, occurred on Wednesday evening. It was cold in the morning and quite warm in the afternoon. So by evening time a big thunder cloud had formed on the horizon. My roommate and I were driving into the grocery store parking lot when all of a sudden the wind really picked up. I thought to myself, "Self, this appears to be tornado like weather," which my roommate later confirmed.

Anyway, we were stopped in front of the store when all of a sudden my roommate shouted, "Shopping Cart! Shopping Cart!" I looked at him funny wondering what in the world he was talking about. Then I looked in front of me to see an unmanned, empty shopping cart headed straight toward my cart going at least 10 mph. Seeing as how I didn't want a dent in my new vehicle, I gunned it through the intersection and barely missed being scraped by the unleashed terror on wheels. Apparently, I also narrowly missed being hit by the stop sign as well.

Possibly more unnerving is that we proceeded to park the car, walked inside and completed our grocery shopping with all of the other people in the store. No one seemed too concerned about the storm outside. Kind of crazy...

(There was no tornado by the way)