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Happiness Is So Easy to Find

Tammie Tai

We had a party yesterday. I saw that some of my classmates had tears in their eyes when the party was over. All of my classmates from this semester were over. Summer vacation was beginning!

Today is a little different from the regular school days: I don’t need to worry about any homework, but I feel slightly sad. I might not be used to this vacation yet, because I still have a lot of chores to do.

I recall that last month I bought a bottle of pickled cucumber when I avoided the hard rain at a Whole Foods Market in Chinatown after class. After my husband and I finished the pickled cucumber, I put some leftover cabbage and one pepper in the bottle, added some other stuff, and then just left them there. Later, I rushed to check what was going on in the bottle. Wow! What a familiar and aromatic smell there was . . . my favorite was the fresh scent of peppers.

Suddenly, I felt so hungry, even though I just had my breakfast. So I boiled some dry noodles that my sister left me last month. The smell was so amazing that I pictured myself eating them while the noodles were still being boiled. So I just simply fried some eggs, pickled cabbage and pepper, and a few other things. I stirred them together. Yummy. Yummy! It reminded me of my hometown’s smell.

My husband saw me enjoying my meal so much and couldn’t help but beg for some. He never eats pepper and noodles. But to my surprise this time, he finished everything I gave him. It must have been my happy expression that attracted him. I felt my heart had visited my hometown after I finished the big bowl of pickled pepper noodles.

Life can be so simple. You will find happiness is so easily attainable if you embrace life with your full heart.

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