Disclaimer: No ownership.


Happiness

It's like a butterfly, you know? If you chase it and chase it, it's just going to fly away…


"And then—and then! Do you know what happened next Annabeth? Do you? Do you know what Grover did?"

This was Juniper's excited state. Talking was useless, I knew, but I gave it a try anyway—

"I—"

"Then he gave me the sweetest look!" She trilled, not even stopping to pause for breath. "And… and I just died, Annabeth, I just died."

Then Juniper looked up at me—a blonde teenage girl perched on a tree branch. I was dangerously close to slipping and dropping though, because of the laughter that had taken over me.

Soon enough, she asked, "What's so funny?", and she was so innocently naïve, it made me give in to another set of giggles.

"Nothing—hehehehe," I managed, but then I very nearly fell down and Juniper's sweet, elfin face almost turned worrisome. "Haha, Juniper, it's nothing. Really. It's just that—you're so happy." I cleared my throat, got a grip, and then said, "Its... entertaining."

"Oh."

She seemed to contemplate that for a second, and then she grinned. "Well that's great!"

I cleared my throat again, mostly to disguise the last of my snorting. I shifted my position in the tree to a more comfortable pose and looked down on the beaming dryad.

"Great?" I asked.

"Of course!" She threw her hands up and twirled and twirled. In the light of the rising sun and with the background of a healthy, leafy forest, Juniper looked like a fairytale princess in the midst of the most magical moment of her life. I dearly hoped she wouldn't burst into song.

She didn't, thank Zeus, and she also stopped twirling. Her petite form sank down to the plush grass carpet and when she laughed it was like the sound of baby birds at the crack of dawn—refreshing.

"It's great to be happy," she sighed.

And all at once she appeared to melt in with the scenery. A blissful soul becoming one with nature. I was starting to think that just being a dryad made you poetic—or charismatic. With Juniper, it was impossible to not feel her exuberance.

I watched as she daydreamed herself silly. Her smile grew with each passing minute, and though I wanted to ask her exactly why she was so happy, I knew enough to not disturb the moment. I wouldn't dare.

Happiness was elusive, and as such it should be treated like a gift.

I was about to doze off, sitting there, high in the branches, when a voice as light as a feather drifted up. It asked me, "You know what else is great?"

I yawned, looked down; Juniper's eyes were closed.

Curiosity and amusement had me crack a smile. "What?"

"All you have to do is feel it," she said, "and that's that. If you want to be happy, all you have to do is be happy."

I yawned again then. And then blinked.

Then I looked down to find the dryad staring at me, as if she was waiting for an answer.

I didn't hear a question, but I responded:

"You're right."

And she closed her eyes then opened them again, and this time I saw that they were alight with a joy so simple, it was a wonder it was a joy at all.

The joy to be… joyful. The blessing of being blessed.

Most people should be like this.

"You're right." I repeated.

I smiled down at her. She smiled up at me.

"I know."


But sit down awhile. It just might sit with you—right on your nose.