Happiness is...

Going way back, I used to live like I had a death wish, and although I didn't (have a death wish), I am surprised that I didn't screw up and actually do something that wound up killing me. Therefore, I guess happiness is: looking back on the years that have followed since my misguided youth and being thankful for those years, because, all and all, they weren't too bad.  

Happiness is listening quietly to a Jazz Quartet with my legs up, my eyes closed and a smile on my face.

And now I live out on a mountain top
And I'm almost thirty-five
And I've found my peace and I've found my release
And I'm happy just to be alive

Andy Pratt/Avenging Annie/1973

I went on a bike ride yesterday and there was a construction on my planned route. I had to get around it. I tried a shortcut and got lost. I ended up biking 1 hour and 10 minutes, a third of it uphill. I was spitting my lungs out. Then I felt like a champ for exercising that much, Like it was intentional! In my over the hill age. That was happiness (for a minute)

About three and a half years ago I was experiencing some intermittent sensations in my chest that felt a bit strange, so I convinced my VA doc to write an order for a cardiac stress test.  The results did not indicate blockages, and regardless of that not being definitive of good coronary health, at the time it made me happy.