How do you measure happiness?

 

I recently had my annual wellness physical.  As a part of the exam, my doctor read off a checklist of mental health questions.  He was looking for signs of distress; statements suggesting depression, desire for self-harm, or suicide.

 “How are you feeling?”

 Thinking about my dance encounters over the last several weeks, I said:

 “Doc, I’ve been have moments of intense happiness.”

 He couldn’t find a place on his clipboard for my statement.

Sweet 16

 

Dateline:  June 6, 2023.  Sweet 16.

 Today marks my 16^th anniversary of my introduction to salsa.  A year and a half before, I lost Retta, my best friend and wife of 15 years, to complications of Hepatitis C.  After mourning her loss for a year, I put my grief away, and began to search for something to occupy my time. 

 Sometime later, I saw an ad in the paper for “Free salsa lessons at Ruta Maya.” 

 I thought, “Oh, good, I’ll go try that.” 

 So I went on Wednesday, June 6, 2007, which was also D Day. 

 Now, you must understand, I had never heard of salsa as a dance.  It was completely foreign to me.  I thought I was going to a cooking class.  I walked in the door with a bag of chips under my arm, not knowing whether we were going to make red salsa or green salsa.  What I saw and heard and felt, with the pounding rhythms, the beautiful girls spinning and twirling, the guys looking calm and confident, changed me forever. 

I said: “I want THAT!” 

And here I am.