tales for dreamers: I asked the wise old lady where I could find happiness, and this was her reply

“There is a place on earth,” she began, “where the blue of the ocean merges with the blue of the sky and it is no longer possible to tell where one ends and the other begins.

"Somewhere in that place lies happiness.

"You first see her from afar, like a sparkling jewel on the horizon.

"The road bends and twists and turns under your feet and yields occasional glimpses of the blue paradise.

"Another turn, and you think you will be close enough to reach out and grab her in your hands, happiness for you at last.

"You will not, of course, because it is the annoying habit of things living on the horizon that the more you travel towards them, the farther away from you they will appear.

"Eventually you will content yourself with seeing her from a distance – isn’t there already much joy in that? – yet you will tell yourself, surely, someday she will be yours."

I stared at the wise old lady in incredulity, my brows arched up like fireside tents. “Surely you do not expect me to believe that?”

She chuckled and gave me a toothless grin. “Any answer given can only be as good as the question posed, m’dear.”

(Tale originally published on Friday, July 17, 2015)