“If I’m going to write about happy,” I explained, “I want that writing to lift the reader to that place – a happy place.”
“Who’s happy?” Pooh asked sympathetically. “Where does happy live?”
“I don’t know – exactly,” I answered.
Pooh looked at me suspiciously.
“You don’t know happy?”
“Happy’s not a person. It’s a thing. It’s a place. It’s how you make me feel. Sometimes. Like when you listen to me – quietly.”
Pooh smiled.
“It’s how the laughter and squeals of children make me feel,” I continued. “Johnny’s smile. Or the first glimpse of a rainbow.
A red, red cardinal chirping good morning to me. A flash of a firefly’s glow on a summer night. The roar of a Porsche at 6000 RPMs.”
“All that?” Pooh asked with surprise and wide-open eyes.
“All that and more,” I enthusiastically answered Pooh – and continued.
“Those first, cautious sips from a hot cup of perfectly brewed coffee – smooth, caramel and uplifting. That brings me to a happy place. Or the fragrant, citrus spray of a bit of orange peel squeezed gently, slowly under the nose.
A morsel of milk chocolate lightly seasoned with hand-harvested sea salt. Fresh bed sheets that were hung outside on a clothesline. These are just a few of my favorite things…
Or the gift of a friend. A lover. Or a stranger. The gift of themselves, their attention and their presence. Priceless!
“Oh! That’s a lot of things,” Pooh said with a heavy sigh. “How much will the postage cost?”
“I don’t know,” I replied as I tried to ignore the implications of Pooh’s question.
Pooh insisted.
“How are you going to get all that stuff here, sorted and portioned? And, then, how are you going to get it all to all of them?”
“I don’t know,” I replied again – but I knew Pooh was right.
Then it came to me – a clever solution. A Joycean epiphany.
“I’ll send it all – all of it and every wonderful detail – in a suggestion,” I told Pooh with excitement.
“And I’ll seal it in a smile.”
Pooh looked at me with suspicion, again.
“That’s… That’s crazy!” blurted Pooh.
“Not as crazy as having a conversation with a stuffed bear…”
Pooh nodded agreement and laughed – in my imagination.
But the real Pooh was actually thinking of something else – a problem that I hadn’t considered.
“But what if they don’t want to go to a happy place?
What if they need to be in the place where they are? A sad place, a serious place or an angry place?”
Pooh had me stumped again.
“Sometimes, we need to be in other places,” Pooh explained.
“Because that’s how we understand and grow – different kinds of learning happen in different places.”
I nodded in silent agreement.
Now, what am I going to do? I wondered to myself.
“I suppose that as long as it’s just a suggestion,” Pooh conceded, “they can take it or leave it. Or better still, they can take it like a gift card; they can redeem it at their convenience; they can visit a happy place whenever they want/like.”
I let out a loud sigh of relief.
“You are a very clever bear,” I said.
“Isn’t that why you talked with me, today?” Pooh asked and grinned.
“To be honest, Pooh, Horton was busy…”
“Horton who?” Pooh asked.
“Horton and the who are two different things. But Horton – if you must know – was busy with a who,” I answered him and lit a cigarette.
“I see,” said a grumpy Pooh.
“Does Horton like and share all your FaceBook posts about Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, and your fan fiction?”
Michonne of The Walking Dead
“No…” I answered.
“But, I’m not as important as Horton,” he added.
“But you are!” I assured him and laughed.
“I was teasing you. Of course, you are important to me, Pooh.”
“I don’t like that kind of teasing,” Pooh replied.
“I’m sorry, Pooh…”
“Don’t do it again,” he warned as he pushed the potato with my face painted on it – off the balcony rail.
- Stan Faryna Potato Face
About The Author
Stan Faryna is currently digging 100s of square feet of flower beds for lilies, yarrow, milkweed, and butterfly bushes in his service to Creation. The butterflies, fireflies and hummingbirds should be pleased come summer. Just returned to the US from a long stay in Europe, he’s available for consulting on online strategy, start ups and game development. He’s @faryna on Twitter. He blogs deep here.
Stan Faryna
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Stan, you sooth me with this lovely piece today as I watch in horror as events unfold in Boston/Watertown. In spite of life, we still need smiles to keep us in love. Thank you for this much needed story.
Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing
Pooh was sure that I had gotten in over my head with this happy errand. And I’m not sure Pooh was mistaken. [grin]
But, in fact, I found much joy in this endeavor. Thank you, Jayme. Thank you for egging me on making me try. [big smile]
Faryna Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I am so glad you did. Who else could have done this?
(she is quite the nag, aint she?)
AlaskaChickBlog Faryna Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing A-hem. I am right here, and who is the one who begged to write twice already? And, where you been, Missy?
Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing AlaskaChickBlog Faryna sick, sick , sick! Then, when I started to feel better, ALL FOUR MEN got SICK!! Then of course, I got sick, sick, sick again! I’m alive…but lucky you, you don’t have to hear my
Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing AlaskaChickBlog Faryna VOICE! Sheesh, these commenting systems really hate my guts! LOL
And hey. I really mean it, Jayme. You did something very special, when you created the Happy Friday Series. (You know that, don’t you?) I’m a believer. And I will beg ya for another spot eventually, I am sure, because it is something always circling in my own mind now…
AlaskaChickBlog Faryna Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I’ve been trying forever to do a happy errand – with no success. Jayme moved a mountain.
Your home healthy now? I see you put up a post in Bloggers Unite.
Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Sigh. No, not really…but what are ya gonna do? 🙂 I am tired of trying to get better…I figure now that I will just ignore it as much as possible! LOL… Yeah, bad day yesterday…it’ll be rough around here for awhile I think.
Faryna Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I am not sure I believe that in a heartbeat. Your variety and verve with writing? No way did this stump you.
Let me add an “e” to sooth.
I love “Pooh’s” explanation of the other places and how the happy place can be something that is redeemed whenever needed.
Erin F. Pooh is deep, indeed.
Erin F. So much interpretation here; loved this story.
HEY! No potato pushing! I will have to put yours in the Witness Protection Program, too!
Great post…thoroughly enjoyed it….all but the potato abuse.
BetsyKCross I’m thinking mashed potato with garlic could be a better option, eh, Betsy?
Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing BetsyKCross Yum!
Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing BetsyKCross Not one of MY painted potatoes! That’s almost cannibalism!At least cut their faces off before you cook ’em. Geez!
BetsyKCross You are already putting them in the Witness Protection Program, huh?
AlaskaChickBlog BetsyKCross It’s a story that I’ll tell when I’m released from the program, in a few weeks if all goes well…it’s silly.
Whoa now, Mr Potato Head lives…I knew it…
Great job Stan the Man, very creative and very entertaining. You are going to go far young man…
bdorman264 After that fall off the railing, things are touch and go with the potato.
Hey, Bill…got a Happy Friday post you may want to share? Love to have you.
THAT was PERFECT!!
I absolutely, no doubt about it, LOVED it!!
Pooh is cool. Pooh is just easy. Pooh is … happiness!
I am, again, simply blown away by you, Stan THE man.
I have a poem I found, that I was going to drop in (with my comments) on Jayme’s next Happy Friday, but I just cannot, I see that now. This series, I think, has brought out the absolute best in us all… (who’da thunk it, eh?)
Stan, I am happy and I am going to share this with everyone I know… you know, in case they need it later.
Thank you, you sweetie. Make sure you take pictures of your flower beds for me!
AlaskaChickBlog Your poetry is always welcome here.
AlaskaChickBlog I want to read your poetry!
I hope you’re feeling better.
FarynaAlaskaChickBlog
Smiling is infection;
You catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner
And someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realized
I’d passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile
Then I realized its worth,
A single smile, just like mine
Could travel round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin,
Don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic quick,
And get the world infected.
— Author Unknown
Faryna It isn’t my own, of course… but when I came across it in my researching other things this week, I knew I had to save it and pass it on.
AlaskaChickBlog Faryna You infected me! I’m smiling!
“Sometimes, we need to be in other places.” Indeed. Wise words. Because happy is an inside-out job, and even when we’re in those “other places”, the flame of happy still flickers inside. Cheers! Kaarina
KDillabough Pooh thanks you.
Happy is inside-out…indeed.
Potato FACE? Since when, Stan!?
BruceSallan Potatoes are the new black.
Stan, I love it! That potato looks nothing like you, whatsoever.
Thanks for giving me something to smile about on an otherwise unpleasant world day.
Jayme, I am now addicted to these Friday outings 🙂
Julie Barrett I’m glad I could help you with a smile!
As for the potato, it may need a little wig and sun glasses. [grin]
Hi, Julie! Thanks so much. Might I please invite you to write one of these? What’s your interpretation of happy? Would so love to have you!