A Quiet Thing

A friend recently remarked, "I wish I could recapture the bright light of feeling that something wonderful is about to happen!"

The truth is that, in this person's life, many wonderful things have happened. She has a good marriage. A great career. Happy, healthy children. Many friends and meaningful relationships.

So I said to her, "You've matured. That bright, shiny feeling of something new may have faded. But it's not gone. You're living in the glow. Things don't 'knock you off your feet' like they used to."

Lyrics to a song I love go like this, "When it all comes true, just the way you planned, it's funny but the bells don't ring. It's a quiet thing.  When you hold the world in your trembling hand, you'd think you'd hear a choir sing. But it's a quiet thing. There are no exploding fireworks. Where's the roaring of the crowds? Maybe it's the strange new atmosphere way up here among the clouds. But I don't hear the drums and I don't hear the band--the sounds I'm told such moments bring. Happiness comes in on tip-toe. It's a quiet thing. A very quiet thing."