“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.”
–Jim Rohn

She was 22 years old, had a steady job and a horrible- wait. That is not how I want to tell the story, it isn’t even the story I want to tell. Instead, I am going to go in the opposite direction. I want to tell an important story as if we were face to face- intently staring each other in the eyes. So let me paint a picture with words.
We are in a coffee shop, the lighting isn’t great and the jazz music in the background creates a nice mood. The faded green booths and the scratched wooden floor gives you the idea that this café has been around a while. There is a pile of old newspapers in the corner crumpled with age.
I walk in and there you are. Sitting at a table so rickety and old that it looks like a soft breeze could push it over. I walk over and you don’t meet my eyes. There are two cups of steaming coffee sitting on the table. My heels click on the hard cold floor. The few people sitting in the café raise their heads and glance my way. I don’t give them a second look but pull the chair out with a scratching sound and gracefully sit down. You push a cup of the coffee towards me and give me a curt nod. I expected you to say something but I suppose my expectations were too high.
I took a sip and sighed, vanilla mocha. You remembered that my favorite coffee was a vanilla mocha. We didn’t even bother with small talk we just leaned in for the main point of our rendezvous. I cared about happiness and I knew that that was something you were lacking. What is happiness? Well that’s up to you to decide.
We began our conversation there. Well, I began my speech there. You didn’t really contribute all that much. As I spoke to you about happiness you looked out the dark window. Then you spoke the first words I had heard you speak in a while. You said, “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future it is something you design for the present. Those are not my words, but I cannot remember who spoke them.”
Then you stood up and walked toward the door. You placed your calloused hand on the old door knob and pulled it open. Then you stopped. You glanced over your shoulder and said, Are you happy?”
That was a good question. The answer is I don’t know.