The New York Times had a Joy supplement at the weekend. And CBS has just bought John Krasinski’s fabulously home-made You Tube series Some Good News. I think we can all agree, then, that the world has had enough of all the negativity. Happiness is trending.
If I could have invented the perfect day, it would have looked a lot like yesterday. The weather: a balmy 65ish. Five friends. The destination: a quiet stretch of the Appalachian trail. Nine miles of glorious, outrageous nature, obscene in its lush beauty – a lake, a forest, a view – the green so vibrant and strange it almost hurt my eyes. A picnic at 13,000 feet, overlooking the Hudson Valley. 2,000 calories burned.
Later, sitting in a park by the Hudson, watching the sun twinkle on the water, we laughed, and played, and complained about aching muscles, eating burgers washed down with cans of gin and tonic.
And then, driving back, the grand finale: a gasp as we turned a corner and were greeted by the sight of the city against a tangerine-streaked sky. She was the most beautiful thing. Home. Hope. We're going to be OK.
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