Yesterday morning I was vaguely listening to France Inter (my favourite radio station) while driving BB to crèche in the pouring rain. The presenter was talking about the results of a new survey of what makes (French) people happy. A random selection of the public was asked to define what they thought they needed to feel happy, here and now. Turns out the results are:
1/ More money
2/ Good health
3/ Time for oneself.
The presenter commented that this is the first time “money” has hit the number 1 spot, beating even “love”, “friends” and “family”, none of which make it into the top 3.
“Hum!” I muttered glumly to BB as the rain pelted against the windscreen. “Well, I reckon I agree. If only we had a bit more money…”
BB gurgled a complex response that suggested he’d given the matter careful thought.
Anyway, later in the day – the survey long since forgotten – I was having a silent moan to myself that went something like this: when did my life become so humdrum? Where’s the poetry gone? All I do is make food, sit in traffic jams, type on keyboards and arrange for cracked windscreens to be repaired (you can guess what today’s exciting project was…).
Then, because I felt guilty about this miserable thought, I decided to take one minute to consider the “poetic” things that had happened to me in the day (i.e., non-mundane, happy moments). So, my list went:
1/ Cold hands curled around a mug of hot coffee, sharing a laugh with Sophie & Marie, my good friends (&, luckily for me, colleagues)
2/ Phonecall from FH, just to check I’d got to work safely
3/ BB’s smile when he saw my face at the door and realised it was home time
4/ Glug-glug of red wine poured into two glasses, one for FH, one for me: a moment of calm after the whirlwind of BB’s bedtime routine.
Who would have guessed? My cynical side has been put to shame: it would seem that “love”, “friends” and “family” top my happiness list after all. I wonder if maybe the people who answered the survey underestimated themselves: money is fine, and it’s great to have some, but can it really buy you the fleeting glimpses of poetry that, in the end, made my day seem like a happy one?
3 comments:
That's my elephant photo!!!
Griddy you make wonderfull pictures ! ENCORE !
Shirley, I liked so much the soft smile which came on(?) to(?) my face when I read your words today. It's true it's such a poetry matter to remember all the "petites gorgées de bière"/wine !.. of a nice day after all. Every evening with Joachim, since he was about one year old we list "all the good things of the day" just after the bed story telling part. And it is a "gymnastique", difficult at the beguining though but today like some kind of a "passage obligé" (god d... I really have to search & find my harrap's!!)because we love it both.
That's a lovely idea, Delphine. I'm sure it becomes second nature when you do it often enough!
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