The things that bring me a moment’s bliss have this in common: I lose myself, I forget myself, time evaporates.  It’s not that I don’t particularly like being myself, it’s that, hell, that’s where I’m stuck 24/7, and it’s nice to take a vacation every once in a while!

So, Five Random Things That Bring Me Bliss…

1. Laughing so hard my throat and stomach ache.   It’s what happens when, for example, I run into old high school friends and all we do is quote lines from movies (okay, mostly Withnail and I) to each other.   Literally, we can go half an hour without having a shred of real conversation.

"I don't know what my...acquaintance, did, to offend you, but I assure you, it has nothing do with me. I suggest you settle this sensibly, in the street."

2. Hearing the exact right song the exact moment I want to hear it.  I’ll pop in that CD I haven’t thought about in years and just play some song over and over and over.   And over.  And over.  Until my wife and children, having heard “Are Friends Electric?” by Gary Numan for the 64th time, want to gouge my eyes out.  Then I grab the headphones.

3. Moments where you see that your children have become their own people.  Sorry to get all cornball on y’all, but it’s true: Rafael’s passion for death metal, Gabriel’s passion for barbecued ribs.  Nothing super unusual, I know, but a kick in the pants just the same.

4. Being super tired in the middle of the day and lying down.  Makes you realize how rarely we actually listen to our bodies when they’re screaming at us to do something.  We fight ourselves with coffee, deadlines and guilt buried so deep we don’t even know it’s there.  So enough with the flagellant self-discipline and tyrannical work schedules: bring on the naps and the double doubles!

5. Figuring out what fellow Offender Roger calls the shifting target – y’know, your calling, your vocation.  Whether the universe wants you to be a knitter, insurance adjuster, writer, baker or tree trimmer, you know it when you do it.  And it feels goooood.  Life’s daily tribulations – the back aches, the dripping sinks, the unpaid parking tickets, all vanish.   You’re so consumed you have trouble hearing people and you forget to eat.  

Sorry, just realized, have to do a #6 (he’s sitting right next to me, for chrissake, looking up at me).

6. When our dog Ozzy was a puppy, he was able to get himself into this papasan chair we have, but he couldn’t get out.  He was too tiny and too afraid. He’d whine until one of us would come over and lift him out.  He’s two now, and can easily get in and out by himself.  But if he’s sitting in that chair, and we leave the room, within two minutes, I guarantee you, he’ll start whining.  He can get out.  He just wants us to pick him up and do it for him.  The little guy just misses us.  Moral of the story: it’s nice to be needed.  Really nice.

The real-life Ozzy on our papasan chair.

Central casting Ozzy with central casting child - but absolutely "true."