Happiness

Start your story with someone emerging from the sea, and end it with them looking up at the stars.

Happiness

I had never seen someone so charismatic in my life. He had brown skin and large almond shaped eyes with thick brows. He walked like he did not care for anyone in this world. He looked at something that was nowhere around him. Perhaps he was in deep thought. He kept walking until he was out of the water and near the coconut tree. He looked at it, caressed it and sat down on the sand with his back rested on the trunk.

It was probably around 6.30 pm. I did not have my cell phone as I wanted to just experience the sea and the breeze. So I had left it in my room. I had been there for around an hour I think. I had told Chris that I would be back in like a couple of hours. People usually are there on the beach until late at night anyways, and our hotel was only 20 minutes walk from the beach. Chris had decided to stay in and watch his game.

I wanted to talk to him so much. I was not attracted to him like I had been to Chris last year. But I just could not hold myself. I thought if I did not talk to this guy, I might never. I walked to him and stood beside him, not able to say anything. I knew I was not acting sensibly. He did not look at me at all. He just kept looking at the sea. I looked at my watch and it was already 7.10. I coughed a bit and he looked at me. His gaze was soft yet so powerful that I looked up at the coconut leaves. He told me ‘Hey, how are you? Do you want to sit down and watch the sea? It is beautiful, right?’ I needed no more formalities and I just sat down. I felt heavenly bliss I had never experienced before.

More people started coming to the beach. Perhaps most had come after dinner. It was lively here until around midnight yesterday with some vendors still cleaning up until around 1.00 am. We had never been to such an almost around the clock beach before. I had planned yesterday that I would eat some food from all the vendors when I came back again as Chris is not so interested in trying out new things at all. But alas, what was happening to me. I did not want to get up and go around at all. I introduced my name and asked for his. He looked at me smilingly and after thinking for a bit, told me that I could call him Sean. He asked me how I was doing. Now I felt free to talk to him and was very much at ease. Apparently he was not a local and had come for vacation too. And his wife would be joining him soon. ‘How has been your experience so far here?’ ‘It is great...I loved being here yesterday but it was not enough. We were here the whole day yesterday, from morning until around 7.00 pm. Chris did not want to come here again today. I wanted to come anyway.’ As we were talking, he looked at the sea and waved to a woman with unmatched beauty. I got a bit conscious as she might ask me why I was there with her husband. She sat down and hugged him like she had not seen him for years. I could feel something strange the way they looked at each other. She then turned to me and asked my name. ‘Karina, and yours?’ I was feeling guilty inside for talking with Sean in her absence. ‘Seeyona. I am so glad I got to meet you.' ' Sorry Sean, I am late.’ 

I felt a little embarrassed for not getting up and letting the couple have their time. They did not talk to each other much. They just sat there mostly looking at the sea and around. People were busy with their activities. Some going into the water, some coming out of the water, some playing in the sand while some eating from food carts. Perhaps, to remove the awkwardness of an uninvited stranger sitting next to them, she asked me where I was from. 

‘I am from Utah. America. Do you even know where Utah is? Not many people know about it. But it is a beautiful place. I had always wanted to visit here since my childhood, but was scared to travel alone. Chris finally agreed to bring me here.’

‘Yeah, I have heard of Utah. Isn't Bryce Canyon there?’

‘By the way, Chris sounds like a very good husband. Where is he now?’

‘He is, thanks. But he just decided to stay in. He was here yesterday. I guess he just came here for me yesterday. He is just into TV and the internet mostly. He does not know what life is. We need to experience all that is out here in the world before we die. That is what I think. But he is different.’

She perhaps found it amusing that I was talking about my husband even though she had not asked about it all. She smiled a bit.

‘That is okay Karina. He is fine. He already saw what he needed to see yesterday. Perhaps he has wider vision and sees more in less time than many of us do. You are right, we need to experience the world before we die. But we also need to experience ourselves before we die. Don't do you think?’

‘What do you mean? We are we. It is funny.’

Sean was aloof and was listening to music as we were talking.

‘No, we are not just we. We change everyday. Actually every moment. Like seasons. Maybe you were crazy about him before, and now you are not and you will be again. You know, we never know our heart completely. We are attracted to some silly moments and miss out on everything else and we do not even know what we are missing out on.’

‘I am still crazy attracted to him. But I did not know that he was so not unto nature and purpose of life. How can one be so happy with TV and games and friends that he completely undermines being out in nature? Sorry, we just met for me to bore you, but sometimes I feel frustrated and it has only been a year of our marriage.’

‘It is the difference between us that we need to experience and live the experience as well. He loves and cares about you a lot. That is why he is here. He missed his game for you. He could be with his friends at the stadium now. But he valued you more, he valued your interest more than his happiness. And yet he has never expressed his discontent of watching it on TV. Have you ever given up your plans to be with him watching his game?’

I had never. He had asked me a few times, since I met him. But I disapproved of the very idea of wasting my time going with him to watch someone else's hard work or progress. I would rather go to a homeless shelter to help out, do my own chores or go out to nature to watch God’s beautiful creation. He never made a big fuss about it. He would smile and let me go. Seeyona is right, perhaps he loves me more than I do.

Doubting my ideals for a moment, I asked her if she had kids yet. Starting a family of my own has passed through my mind a few times but I had always ignored it. It was almost midnight now. There were still few people on the beach with some cleaning themselves up. There were some food stalls open with electric lanterns on. She laid down looking at the stars. I did the same. I had never seen such a beautiful sky. The stars seemed to be smiling at me. Seeyona told that she never planned to have her own child but the entire ecosystem in the sea was her child. ‘What?’ She laughed a little and told me that I would remember her the next day like a dream. She could sense that I was smiling at her unwarranted answer. ‘Seriously, life is like a dream. I will go back to sea and you will go back to your room. We need to live at the moment, whether we think it is a dream or reality. I think you think too much about the purpose of life. But you have been forgetting a simple truth. God has given us this life on earth among people to enjoy life and enjoy people. There is no better purpose than to be happy and make others happy. Once this body gives us up, we can no longer enjoy our earthly options. Helping society and giving happiness is great. But charity begins at home. If we are not able to think of our family members as worthy of having their own opinions and respect and accept them for who they really are, then serving the society is in part serving our ego. Serving your ego that tells you that you are better than others because you help the society. So even though we do such a selfless act of serving society, we cannot be truly happy inside. We become a slave to the complex that tells us that our viewpoint of life is better than others. Chris is a gem and brings peace and happiness to people around him without him purposefully acting on it. He honors and understands your desires and lets you follow your dreams without any judgement. Never let go of him.'

I could hear Chris calling out to me from distant. Those stars seemed to be talking to me for the first time. I was so much at peace.