The Man Who Never Smiled

There was a man who never smiled…

Who sat on his couch all day –

Sometimes wrapped in a blanket and sometimes not,

Watching his grandchild play with her toys.

Often he would hold the girl in his lap,

And read her fairytales from an old, black book:

Like Hansel and Gretel and the story of Heidi.

Or he would teach her German – Schmetterling and Auf Wiedersehen –

Or show her how to count.

Some days, the man taught her about chores,

Like how to dry the dishes.

(But never the knives)!

And on other days, he taught her about school,

Showing her how to read or tell time –

Auf Deutsch, natürlich.

He hugged the girl frequently and kissed her often,

And snuck her money when her parents weren’t looking.

And when they were looking.

And he explained to her why she shouldn’t jump on the furniture,

Or put a plastic bag over her head.

The man protected her from the world

(In his eyes, she was a perfect angel)

And when anyone raised their voice to the girl,

He would shield her with his menacing glare.

They ate lunch together, too:

Usually macaroni, but scrambled eggs on Sunday!

And afterwards they sat on his couch –

To read or count or tell time

(In English and in German).

Then when she got bored,

The girl would get up to play with her toys

And proudly, the man would watch.

And every day the girl would grin –

Bigger and bigger with each passing moment.

Because she had a secret about the man who never smiled:

She could see him smiling all along.

Dedicated to my Opa, the best grandpa anyone could ever have. I know you're smiling down on me from Heaven. 

What is Happiness?

Today, it seems like a lot of people have forgotten what happiness is. We go through life working as hard as we can, trying desperately to improve upon everything – there’s always something that can be better, and nothing is ever good enough. Now because of this, it looks like happiness has been given a permanent seat on the backburner. So what is happiness? Here, let me remind you:

Happiness is hearing your hamster running around in his wheel at 2:00am, and knowing he is happy and healthy.

Happiness is opening up the fridge and seeing that your mom made angel food cake.

Happiness is running faster than you ever have before at the gym.

Happiness is hearing that, after 12 years of waiting, there will finally be a sequel to Finding Nemo!

Happiness is when you check the clock at work, and realize you only have 20 more minutes left.

Happiness is stepping on the scale and seeing that you’ve lost 2 pounds.

Happiness is thrift shopping at Value Village, and finding the most amazing purse that you have ever seen in your entire life.

Happiness is hearing your pet bird chirping in the morning.

Happiness is seeing that they’ve started showing Boy Meets World on TV again.

Happiness is when the person ahead of you in the drive thru line pays for your coffee.

Happiness is returning the favour, and paying for the person behind you.

Happiness is going on early-morning walks with your dad and sister.

Happiness is waking up in the morning and seeing that more people have looked at your blog.

Happiness is when you can make your family and friends smile.

Happiness is coming home from work and opening the door to the smell of perogies.

Happiness is realizing that you are a completely different person from who you were last year.

Happiness is elephants.

Happiness is getting your nose pierced.

Happiness is having the day off work, and doing absolutely nothing all day long.

Happiness is that brief 2 week period at the beginning of summer when the lilacs are blooming and the air smells sweet.

Happiness is getting into your hot car and then turning on the air conditioning.

Happiness is when your grandma remembers your birthday…or your sister’s birthday…or your dad’s birthday…

Happiness is frozen yogurt.

Happiness is finding a $20 Dairy Queen gift card in your wallet that you forgot you had.

Happiness is getting to sing your favourite song at church.

Happiness is spending time with a friend that you hadn’t seen in awhile.

Happiness is seeing the excited look in your guinea pigs’ eyes when you give them treats.

Happiness is learning new words in a different language.

Happiness is eating fettuccine alfredo at your favourite Italian restaurant.

Happiness is when there’s 2 empty elliptical machines side-by-side at the gym, and you can exercise next to your sister.

Happiness is playing mini-golf, and getting a hole-in-one.

Happiness is when your favourite team wins the Stanley Cup Playoffs (Go Hawks)!

Happiness is donating blood.

Happiness is when the shirt you fell in love with at the store is sold out in every size – except yours.

Happiness is knowing that your Oma and Opa are watching over you from heaven, and that one day you’ll see them again.

Happiness is going out to eat and hearing that the soup of the day is cream of potato.

Happiness is when you set your iPod to shuffle and your favourite song starts playing.

Happiness is sitting in the car when it’s raining and listening as the raindrops hit the roof.

Happiness is singing along to the Big Bang Theory theme song, and not messing up a single word.

Happiness is trading in your size 12 pants for some 10s at work, and remembering that this time last year you were a size 20.

Happiness is putting on a pair of jeans, warm and straight out of the dryer.

Happiness is finally breaking in a new clarinet reed and getting that smooth, great sound.

Happiness is learning how to play a Josh Groban song on the guitar.

Happiness is taking funny and adorable pictures of your pets.

This is what happiness is for me; it’s the little, everyday things that so often I take for granted. It’s the things that make me smile, the things that make me proud of myself, the things that remind me that life is amazing. Happiness comes in all shapes and sizes, and doesn’t have to be an enormous event – sometimes it’s the smallest things that mean the most.

So tell me, what does happiness mean to you?