The Happy Place and Other Stories

Do you have a happy place?

I never did. But now, I do.

Last month, Sherlock and I were on a trip of a lifetime. We went driving all around Ireland and Scotland. Here on, if I use the word beautiful anywhere in the rest of my post, please feel free to report my blog as Spam, because there cannot be a bigger disservice to the places we went to than describing them with an adjective as trite as that.

It rained a lot there. Except on one day. The day we went to Cliffs of Moher. 

On a bright sunny day, we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. The geography of the place is quite logical - there are cliffs extending to both sides of the Visitor Centre. You arrive at the Centre and decided whether you want to go left or right. And then start walking along the cliffs.

The trail is amazing, to say the least. It overlooks water and one step here and there, you can say goodbye to all that you love.

So we reached the Centre and decided to walk towards the right. WIth sun out in its glory, we treked along the cliff, took many Profile pic worthy shots, slipped and fell a couple of times, video-called everyone we know, so they see how absolutely gorgeous this place was. And then, we walked back to the Centre.

At that point, I was happy. I thought we had achieved our fitness goal for the day. And we had seen something spectacular. So, we had earned a nice lunch, a drive back to the room, a few Netflix episodes of Narcos and a slumber.

Sherlock had other plans. He wanted to go towards the Left side now, because he wanted to catch the sunset there. It was 4 pm, I was tired, hungry and cranky. But, he had made up his mind. On a day when the lure of high speed internet and Netflix doesn't sway this man, you should know better than to argue.

So, sulking, I started walking behind him. Trailing a few feet away, on purpose, so he realizes I am tired. Up the hills, down the craters, overlooking water, we kept walking.

The whole crowd was on its way back, but we were walking away from the Centre. At some point, I cried. I told Sherlock he was being mean and that he was putting our lives in danger, because the whole world is going one way and we, the other, and that the Cliffs on both sides look the same, so there seemed no point to this travesty. At that point, Sherlock told me stay where I was, so he could go running to the end, take pictures of the sunset and come back.

But then my inner voice asked me, "Is he the only one who can be stubborn? Show him."

So, I mustered all my strength, and started trailing behind him again. Silently shedding tears.

Then we reached the last cliff. And just as we arrived there, the sun started setting.

So, there we were.

Sun setting on the Atlantic Ocean.

We, standing on cliffs.

Gorgeous long shadows.

Hardly, 3 people we could see, for as long as our eyes could check.

A full moon rising on the opposite end.

The sound of waves lashing against the cliffs.

Cold breeze.

No charge in the phone, so, I literally, had nothing do, but to stand and breathe.

And breathe I did.

While Sherlock captured everything on his camera, I stopped blinking, so I could capture that moment in my head and take it with me everywhere I go.

Suddenly, the tears had disappeared. Sherlock was not irritated. And I was thankful, I was with this man, who had dragged me here.

We were there. In the full entirity. We were there. With full mindfulness. We were there.

How often does that happen?

That's my happy place now.

Last week, I was working on something and got frustrated. I closed my eyes and there I was. Reliving that moment, when we were there.

Here are some images I took, before the phone died. 

Caveat: (1) They don't do justice. (2) These were before the sunset (3) Only way to know what I mean, is to go there!

So, yeah. What's your happy place?