What is happiness? Is happiness something you are born with? Is it something you discover on your own? Do you wake up one morning happy, so fucking overjoyed that you've accomplished everything in your life? Are you happy when you settle down with your perfect bride, have 2.3 perfect kids and a cat and dog to boot? Are you happy when you finally have that 2 story house with the white picket fence and the cherry trees border-lining the driveway? Are you happy the day you get the promotion to that office job? Mabey you're happy the day your kid graduates college? Are you happy the day you sell that perfect house and buy that small seaside cottage? Are you happy the day you retire? Are you happy the day you get that classic car you always wanted? Are you happy when you finally have every materialistic possession you could have ever possibly fathomed?
Maybe, happiness is only obtained the day you die, the day you move on from this empty life and discover that everything you thought made you happy was a crock of shit. You wasted your life. You strived to be perfect and to have everything, pushing yourself so hard you couldn't breathe at night and the days you couldn't even enjoy what you had. Working day in and day out, commuting endless hours, you missed your children growing up. Ulcers, migranes, they were never linked together but you should have known better. Stress is a killer. They put "natural causes" on your obituary but you damm well know it was cancer from all the second hand smoke and disel fumes of rushhour.
As for me, happiness is that first drag in the morning, before I even get out of bed. Happiness is the cup of coffee for breakfast out on the balcony of my seventh story apartment as I watch the sunrise over the ocean. Happiness is seeing Elena pull into her parking space, knowing I get to have her for one more day. Happiness is sitting around the table with my three best friends, sharing daily stories over a beer after work. Happiness is sitting on the roof of my beaten-up pickup truck, watching the sunset over the ocean and the stars twinkling into sight, as the moon comes out and I feel like I am part of something real. Happiness is something we each have to find for ourselves. It's out there, we just have to look deep enough into ourselves to find it. It may be closer than we think. I found my happiness. And I found it in the last place I would have ever looked. I found it in myself.