Happiness Defined

The enlightenments one receives from others, translated…

The four of us sisters are closely bonded, we’d often gone back home to visit together, but, there’s always one of us who’d not shown up, because either that I’d needed to head back to my mother-in-law’s, or that my eldest sister needed to work. Once, I’d made a date with my sisters, and, my eldest sister took the time from her lunch break to come by, then, rushed back to her work again; as I’d felt bad for my eldest sister, my younger sister spoke, that my eldest, although she was working hard, she’d had the opportunities to head home for supper, and not needed to worry about making the meals, she’s, more than blessed.

Then, my youngest sister mentioned how she’d not needed to rush home to cook now too, that if she’d arrived home late from work, her two sons will help out with the kitchen. And, my younger sister and I let out an exclamation, “Wow, you’re, so lucky!” but my mother said to my younger sister, “You’re most lucky, your husband doesn’t drink or smoke, with NO bad habits, you’re, the luckiest!”, my younger sister rebutted immediately, pointed toward my youngest sister, “Says who! She’s the luckiest, her son would help her cook, I’d had to cook all the meals, it’s so very stressing!”, my youngest shouted back, “having someone to cook for you, is that bliss? Then, it depends on your definition of what bliss is!”. At which time, my younger sister’s college-age daughter heard our arguments and came over, hugged onto my younger sister, called out, “you’re all blessed, for having me around!”, then, we’d all, started, laughing aloud.

And, every once in a while, the next day I’d visited my in-laws, started carrying on in conversation with them after supper, my mother-in-law who’d normally complained of how unlucky she was, her father died young, how she’d been having it hard as a child, how she’d worked so hard when she was younger, all of a sudden, she’d told us, that the neighbors all thought that she was blessed; because at the age of eighty, she’s still, able-bodied and healthy, with money saved up, most importantly, her husband can still go all over the places with her. My mother-in-law thought awhile, and, felt that, she was, very blessed too.

On the way home, I’d told my husband, I thought my mother-in-law had changed a lot, she’d not complained like she used to before, and, I’d told him of the conversation I’d shared with my sisters the day before. My husband told me, if you know how to appreciate what you have, you’d still feel blessed, having very little in life, and if you can’t appreciate what you have, then, even IF you’re surrounded by wealth, you still won’t be happy. Yeah, I guess, the key to happiness lies in appreciating what we have already.

This would be, the wisdom from life, and, from the experiences this woman has with her family and her in-laws, she’d gained a new meaning of what happiness is.