When Were You Happiest

So I was just sitting at the auto repair shop waiting for them to finish my oil change this morning when I started watching one of the morning news shows in the waiting room.  They read a story in which they disclosed that the age when the average person was most happy was 34.  It sounded like a very arbitrary number but I’m sure they had some sort of study to back up their statement.  It started me thinking.  At what age was I happiest?  Before I was old enough to go to school, my mother worked in the home.  That was a magical time.  We had picnics and went for walks in the woods and baked all the time; it seemed.  Then again, once I started school I was able to make new friends outside the family or my siblings’ friends.  It was new and exciting.  As I went through school I was given ever-increasing amounts of freedom.  That was pretty special too.  Middle school was a break from the monotony of elementary school and high school felt like I had come to life.  I could pick some of my classes and had more time for friends and socializing.  Then came college.  At first it terrified me.  Then my parents went home and I felt fine.  I was treated as an adult for the first time in my life and I loved it.  The classes were harder than I anticipated but Michigan State was a great place to grow.  There were lots of activities and places to go and the girls…wow!  I understood why people always said, “Pretty girls go to State.”  Parties were like nothing I had ever seen before and it was generally nice to be around people of your same intelligence level (not high or low) with shared interests.  Then I met my wife.  She was shy.  I was outgoing.  She liked science.   I liked English and humanities.  She liked the Greek system.  I…did not.  She Liked me.  I liked her.  I asked her to marry me before someone else noticed her.  She agreed and I put a ring on her finger ( a small ring).  She was off the market.  Now all I had to do was graduate and get a job.  Both took a lot of work.  After graduation I took a terrible job but there wasn’t much out there for Communication majors.  It was good enough to get married.  Maybe that was the best time?  We started a family right away and I saw each of my children be born.  That was very special…and pretty messy if I’m being honest.  Why can’t babies come out all clean like on TV?  The jobs kept improving and I was happier with each one.  Then came the day I kept my word to my mother and published my first book.  The editor’s copy is still sitting a few feet from me.  Then the second book came out and soon I will have a third.  When was I happiest?  Boy, that’s a hard one.  So many things have gone well in my life, it is hard to choose.  I’d like to say I can’t pick one and for an actual age, that’s true.  However, I was the happiest ever when my wife agreed to marry me.  That tops the list.