When are you most happy?

What a timely prompt! I have a fresh example from last night of one of those happiest moments.

Do you ever have moments where, for one reason or another, you and everyone around you burst into laughter? Not just like chuckling at a joke, but full on “I can’t breathe, holy shit that was amazing” kind of laughing that lasts for no less than a solid minute? Now, imagine sitting around a table with some of your best friends and playing cards for nearly six hours. That was my night after work yesterday.

My roommate and a couple of our friends like to get together and play Magic: The Gathering, specifically the Commander format. We used to try meeting once a week, but life happens so we take what we can get and typically, when we play Commander, a game can run for 2-3 hours (we’re not speed playing or top tier competitive, so we take our time evaluating and asking questions.) Sometimes it’s one game, sometimes two. Last night we played three games and didn’t get done until just after midnight.

These game nights are definitely some of the happiest times for me. Playing for hours, catching up on the latest drama from work, and cracking jokes that get responses ranging from “polite chuckle” to the infectious fit of giggling because “that was so stupid, I don’t know why I can’t stop laughing.”

That last bit is important, because my siblings and I will have those moments as well and I usually spend time with them every weekend for lunch/supper.

We could be just sitting around watching TV with the kiddos and chit chatting when someone says something that makes everyone bust a gut. A specific example of this was when I was taking a turn playing Party Animals on my brother’s Xbox. I had already played the game quite a bit from beta weekends years ago, so I had a solid understanding of how to play, but when the game finally released they had added something I wasn’t completely ready for. I was doing great on the submarine level, knocked off most of my opponents, and was barely hanging on to the last bits of antenna as the level submerged itself beneath the waves. I watched my little otter characters head dip beneath the waves and said “Good, I’m low enough they can’t hit me.” The moment the last words left me, someone hit me with a biscuit and knocked me out. Everyone, the kids included, burst out laughing. I was only half laughing but seeing the perfect comedic timing and the happiness it brought my family was more than enough in that moment to make up for the hit to my silly gaming pride. Totally worth it.

It’s always these moments that are the happiest for me because for that brief time nothing else matters.