A few months ago I was sitting around the dinner table with friends and someone was telling the story about going to a Scottish whiskey tasting where they serve whiskey that's unavailable on the market, small productions serving rare spirits, etc. And one of the Whiskey he tasted had the most fascinating name: "punched in the face with happiness."
Now there is something about that phrase that I find absolutely perfect. It pins down that one specific kind of happiness --the one that is so good you know it's going to hurt. In their case, they are obviously referring to the happiness of tasting delicious Whiskey and enjoying getting drunk on it until you wake up the next morning with a hangover. The Rats get punched with that happiness all the time.
I see it as that bittersweet effect the best things in the world tend to have. Even silly superficial things like buying a dress that makes you look gorgeous and feeling the sting on your credit card for the next three months; or planning the night of your wedding for a year, having the perfect night, then waking up the next morning and realize that it went by just as fast as any other night of the year; eating a fondant au chocolat and then weighing yourself; or going on a trip you've been counting down to for 178 days and having it be over in less then ten.
And of course, there are the other things --those that bring you happiness down to very core of your being and the punch is just so much harder to recover from. Having perfect sex but for some reason he never call you again. Meeting the man of your dreams only to find out that he is married and is going back to his wife. Having the best mother in the world then have her taken away by cancer.
But you wouldn't take it back. For that moment of happiness, we're ready to take the punch for it. Those who protect themselves from the pain never get to feel that joy. But the rest of us, we know it's worth it.
A look, a kiss, a smile. It's here for a moment. And then it's not.
Now there is something about that phrase that I find absolutely perfect. It pins down that one specific kind of happiness --the one that is so good you know it's going to hurt. In their case, they are obviously referring to the happiness of tasting delicious Whiskey and enjoying getting drunk on it until you wake up the next morning with a hangover. The Rats get punched with that happiness all the time.
I see it as that bittersweet effect the best things in the world tend to have. Even silly superficial things like buying a dress that makes you look gorgeous and feeling the sting on your credit card for the next three months; or planning the night of your wedding for a year, having the perfect night, then waking up the next morning and realize that it went by just as fast as any other night of the year; eating a fondant au chocolat and then weighing yourself; or going on a trip you've been counting down to for 178 days and having it be over in less then ten.
And of course, there are the other things --those that bring you happiness down to very core of your being and the punch is just so much harder to recover from. Having perfect sex but for some reason he never call you again. Meeting the man of your dreams only to find out that he is married and is going back to his wife. Having the best mother in the world then have her taken away by cancer.
But you wouldn't take it back. For that moment of happiness, we're ready to take the punch for it. Those who protect themselves from the pain never get to feel that joy. But the rest of us, we know it's worth it.
A look, a kiss, a smile. It's here for a moment. And then it's not.
No comments:
Post a Comment