This Is How You Make Me Happy

I don’t know when the little things started mattering so much, but they did, and it’s the gift you gave me by adorning my thoughts with your fervor for life.

You always remind me that my mind is a blank canvas for each day that I wake up, and I can splash as many colors as I desire and keep flipping the page as the days fade into new ones each day of my life. Now I want to listen to the voices around me that were just distant echoes all this while. As I walk through the familiar paths, I stumble upon something unfamiliar each day that I’m enthralled by.

For once there’s consolation in not knowing what the future beholds. I don’t want the answers to my questioning mind. I find solace in knowing that you are here now, and I’ll keep writing my story because I don’t think I’ll ever run out of ink. You inspire me believe that I’ll always have a story to tell, even if it’s in incoherent, even if no one understands it.

In reality, you never urge me to look at the bigger picture. Instead, you remind of the significant things that are so easy to overlook. The desire to just be emerges from somewhere within that I never knew existed, and I know your unconditional acceptance of circumstances over which none of us have control has something to do with how I think.

Because there is only so much we can control. Despite trying to delve into the future and find ourselves a secure niche,we are conflicted by our unceasing hopes and dreams as we strive to remain realistic — a constant dichotomy between next and now. You think we are different, and yet you mirror me. You want me to keep looking at the sun, but you acknowledge how everyone’s trying to escape a perennial storm. You make no promises and you ask for nothing. But you’ve given me the gift of knowing that giving my best is the best I can do.

But mostly, you make me realize the value of time. At one point, I feel there isn’t enough time. At another, I feel I have all the time in the world. And then I think of you, and I am content just thinking of now.

Because the right time for anything to happen is now. I cannot tell what will happen next, but because of you I believe that life will happen when I least expect anything. The right place to be is right here, and the right thing to feel at this point is happiness, nothing else.

Little things now make me happy, and I can see you smiling as I keep blathering on about the little things that matter. But I remain focused on the fact that you are smiling. So how can I not be happy?