The Happiest Morning

Last week, on Thursday to be specific, I decided to take a bit longer of a morning walk than usual with Ferris. We headed out to a nearby trail that we’ve taken a couple times, usually reserved for weekends, but it was an especially sunny and summery day, so off we went.

We started our walk to the trail through the surrounding neighbourhoods. We live in a newly developed one, but the further you go, the houses become more and more spread out and the sidewalk disappears.

We passed by a patch of untamed grass with wildflowers in between a brown A frame house and a 1920’s one level. The houses also become more and more mismatched the further out you go.

We reached the trail, and it was glorious. A trail in the summertime… There’s nothing quite like it. It has a vibrance and a glow it just doesn’t have any other time of year. It’s dreamlike. Some of my fondest memories are walking the trail to the river in the summertime with my family and friends. The heat, the smell, the sun trickling through the greenest trees you’ve ever seen, creating a kaleidoscope kind of effect on the ground and in the leaves around you…

We walk the trail together, Ferris as content as he can be, trotting beside me. Amidst my waking dream, I realize we’re not five minutes away from the dog park we frequent. Why not make that our halfway point?

We near the park through a tree tunnel (well, a part of the trail that veers off and is more covered than the rest, but doesn’t ‘tree tunes’ sound mystical?). The closer we get, the more Ferris’ dog senses tingle. He sees the familiar field up ahead and I laugh at his bewilderment/utter joy as he realizes that our walk transported us to one of his favourite spots.. Soon his leash comes off and he runs in serendipity.

I sit under a tree and watch him while full of glee, he meets other dogs and their owners and periodically checks in with me.

I realize how beautiful of a day it is, and how sincerely happy I am in this moment. To start out on our normal daily walk and to end up here...

I feel so content and free. Granted, it is a weekday and being able to allot this into my schedule is freedom, but I mean more on a visceral level. I feel alive; utterly awake. Not weighed down by anything. I’m floating.

This type of feeling, this happiness, you can’t covet. You can’t seek out in a purposeful manner. It is a byproduct. Sure, you could say all happiness is that way, and it is. However, this one Thursday, when I woke up and decided to go, and keep going where the trail took me, and soak in the beauty like it was the air I was breathing- and hey, it really was! I felt a spontaneous happiness that was so surreal, I’m compelled to write about and encapsulate it now.

I want my life to be defined by moments like these. Moments so vivid you can still feel them in you like they happened yesterday. And moments you’re thankful are so vivid, because you want to relive them over and over again.

We made our way back the way we came. The surreal-ness already fleeting, as is its due course. The magic hung back like it was the shoe of Cinderella. Ferris was thirsty, I was sweaty, and it was time to return and on get on with our day.

That’s kind of the magic behind happiness and contentment and inner peace though. It’s special to tap into it, it’s an art to keep it going and it takes dedication to continue finding it.

Last Thursday was the happiest morning, but I didn’t know it would be; I didn’t plan it that way. And that’s part of what made it so happy.

You don’t always know what your soul needs. Sometimes it’s just about quieting down within yourself and letting that part of you to take over.