Everybody has a favorite “happy place” or happy places that they’d gladly flee to when the going gets tough. Some are imaginary. I’ll bet that some of you imagine retreating to some fictional never-land that only exists in an author’s mind. Some of these are not places I’d be eager to be stranded. The medical, dental, and social shortcomings of most of Dicken’s canon would be awful to put up with. You know, places affable to visit, but more than a weekend might be a bit much?
I know. I’m such a balloon popper. But think about getting stuck in the wrong chapter of one of the Lord Of The Rings books. Yikes! Not until I get my sword, please.
Then the is the issue of time passing. Is your happy place static or evolving? Mine is sometimes a large mansion on the seacoast, just my wife, the cat, the dog, and lovely summer days. But not having taken climate change into account, I’ll have to worry about sea level rise washing away my boat float. Drat! Not such a happy place anymore! I shouldn’t have to worry about insurance claims in a happy place.
OK, so maybe reality does not intrude on your happy places. But I sure hope that you are not planning on staying too long. Think of how boring a perfect place could get after weeks of habitation. Lying there while grapes are peeled and dropped into your mouth must get old fast.
And life in a tropical paradise? Have you ever spent more than a few days in the tropics? The bugs, lizards, and bats! Try to sleep on the beach if you want; I’ve heard all the stories of crabs on the Pacific Islands.
No, I hate to be a spoilsport, but a nice idle is waking up in New England on a snowy morning to hot coffee and waffles, knowing that the sound of shovels and snow blower is someone else clearing your walk and driveway. So I’ll sit there and watch the flames jumping in the wood stove, my feet on the hassock, and my wife asking, ” More coffee, dear?”
Now that’s my idea of a happy place!
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