We Are Happier Now

We never realize to be happy in today. It always happens later, when the thing or moment or person is gone, that we realize. How strange is that feeling, that cold and empty gnaw of regret, as our mind takes us back to a thousand different times we took for granted.

The kiss we should have given back in earnest.

The hug we pulled away from too fast.

The sweet endearment we forgot to say, or the stories we only half-listened to, or the laughter we never realized to cherish.

My, isn’t it strange that life should pass us by so quickly? We live every day looking for something. Hoping for something. Striving for something. We enjoy today fine—and the people in it—but our hearts are always somehow oblivious and tangled up in different visions and lost somewhere in the anticipation for tomorrow.

And we don’t realize. We can’t see. We never think about the fact that the people around our table, or the ones we cuddle close to, could one morning just be gone.

And the rest of our lives we must live without them. And all the days we had with them are over. And there will never be any more hugs or kisses or listening to stories or sharing laughs…because their time here on earth is finished.

We’ll look back, then. We’ll remember. We’ll curl up and recall every memory—and wish once more we could go back. Just to kiss their cheek. Or hold their hand. Or whisper “I love you” into a listening ear.

And when they become memories, we realize. We’ll know how happy we were in those days. How lucky. How wonderfully blessed.

Oh, if only we could learn! If only we could remember! Every moment will someday be lost to us. The people with us today might not be with us tomorrow. Life is changing as we speak.

And today is all we have, all we’ll really ever have. We are happier now than we shall ever be.