Happiness is...

@bolong 

Since I retired, I usually defy any responsibilities, so no reasonable person would claim me as a relative. 

Even stray cats won't have anything to do with me!  🤪

Happiness is being in the cockpit of your sailboat, many miles from nowhere in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, with engine problems, cleaning the carburater jets to your engine with carb-cleaner, lighting your hands on fire as you light a cigarette, reacting to fire by throwing the tiny little carburater jet a hundred feet into the air!

...And hearing the tiny little carburater jet land in the dinghy that is tied up 15 feet behind the sailboat! 😀

It's been over a decade, and I still laugh at the extraordinary luck!!!  😂

There's nothing like drifting away at sea with engine problems, lightning yourself on fire, and feeling lucky about it all!!!! 🤣

This thread would be great if more people contributed their stories!

Hint hint! Come on people!

Happiness is not mistaking a fart for the real thing during colonoscopy preparations!

Happiness is sheltering in Fort Jefferson during a category 3 hurricane, and being one step away from the blue plasma of a lightning strike that bolted out of the ceiling, and missed me by ten inches!

Happiness is harmony and melody.

@gano 

I think I know what you mean, but you’re still alive.

Since the subject is "Happiness is" it helps to find a positive ending for a disastrous story.

For example, when I was about 6 or 7 years old we had a serious car accident. We slid off an icy road, and down a long hill toward a big lake where we probably would have drowned in ice water. But instead, we bounced off a tree, and crashed into a nice lake cottage. We went all the way through the wall, and were looking at a man and his wife, in bed on the other side of the room! 

They were shocked upright in bed with jaws hanging wide open, and horror in their eyes. And we were looking back at them with the same horror!

So, in this story, happiness is narrowly avoiding a drowning death, by bouncing off a tree, crashing into a house, and meeting a nice couple in bed on the other side of the room!

PS... Just in case these stories seem hard to believe, I promise they are all completely true. I’m pretty sure I’ve had a very unusual life! 

@immatthewj 

Atrial Fibulation?

It's an irregular heart beat, check into it.

It feels like a flutter in the heart.

Mine is controlled fairly well by a few pills.

@gano 

If you're over the hill, look for downhill bike rides, and keep your tires inflated.  😃

@asvjerry 

There's also a void in my cheap 5 disc player where discs disappear.

How the heck does that happen?

Maybe some day I'll fix it before there is a multi-disc collision. 😂

.

@immatthewj 

You’ve used a lot of terms and acronymacronyms that I don’t know. I’ll have to do some googling. I think you wrote that you were a nurse? So you’re a smarty pants with medical terms! 😁

@gano 

In the last month my heart has been from one extreme to another. 

I don't want sympathy, so I'll skip the specifics. 

But it's been strange.

Happiness is a day with peace of mind, and no problems. 😉

@immatthewj 

+1001

Thanks for the definitions, info, etc.

I just had dinner and now feeling like I need a nap. 

So, I’ll be brief now. But...

" lub-dub/lub-dub/lub-dub [abrupt pause] lub-dub/lub-dub. . . ."

That is a very good description of what my heart does. But after the pause there is often a rush of beats as if it’s trying to catch up! And when it’s bad, the rhythm doesn’t normalize for hours. 

I think my heart is in a more advanced stage of a-fibulation, or arrhythmia though.

Anyway, I hope you’re ok!!!

@thecarpathian 

Yeah, it's good that spiders can't fly!

But the cockroaches that can fly are dreadful!

Some people say, happiness is an old Boomer that gets the rare opportunity to finish a thought without the painful need to pee!

I don’t personally know if this is true, because I’m still 30 years old despite being born in the fifties.

@ghdprentice 

When everything shut down during Covid, I discovered life with very few interruptions. Then came retirement. At first it was disorienting to be free from obligations. But I adapted quickly, and I really enjoy having almost no responsibilities. I’m actually very good at being irresponsible!!! 

So, you have a Japanese toilet?!?  Wow! I could really get some quality time with one of those! I knew about bidets, but not Japanese toilets, until you mentioned it. I’m wondering… well, never mind. It would be weird to discuss those details here! I checked out google and utube for some clues, and I found this. 😳

https://youtube.com/shorts/B9MnxnIuqBA?si=rXd-XHMj3pBWMhKX

How can I possibly live without that toilet, now that I know about it?!?