Sunday, August 17, 2014

The HAPPIEST Moment of My 22 Years Old Life

Oftentimes in life, perhaps on a first date, or an interview of some sort, we are asked the question: "What was the happiest moment of your life?" The respondent then usually struggles to pinpoint an exact moment of "happiest." Indeed, it is difficult to point to any happy moment in one's life, which consists of hundreds, if not thousands of happy little moments, and declare one moment the exact pinnacle of happiness. The answers to this question also trend toward the same few categories: college graduations, wedding days, and the birth of one's children are among the most popular (as I deduced via a 30 second Google search).

I, however, will no longer be one of the people who struggle to answer the question "What was the happiest moment of your life?" Without having experienced matrimony or the birth of a child, I, at 22 years old, can clearly and most decisively identify the exact happiest moment of my life thus far. I am so overwhelmed with joy at the thought of this moment, that I penned this piece to share my joy. 

The Happiest Moment of My Life 

In the summer of 2014, I checked off a big life to-do - graduating from college! After which, I embarked on a standard post-grad Euro trip, frolicking through some of well-toured cities of Europe. We basked in the 4am sunshine in the happiest city on earth (Copenhagen), watched the brutal Spain v. Netherlands World Cup game at a sports bar in Amsterdam, gorged on frites and waffles in Brussels, and lost ourselves in the delicious rich flavors of the duck confit in Paris. And no, none of these happy little moments are THE happy moment. That happiest moment, happened to happen in Paris' Charles De Gaulle Airport.
The happiest city on earth is also colored like Easter

After more than a week on the road, I was physically exhausted, pretty sleep deprived, and ready to board the plane and return to America, the land of SUVs and Seamless. I had spent my cash down to the last few Euros, and as I walk to the boarding gate, I see a souvenir shop/convenience store about 20 feet from our gate. 

"Perfect!"I thought " I'll use up all my Euro coins on snacks for the plane ride." We still have 10 minutes until boarding began which gives me plenty of time to shop.

I peruse through the convenience store's selection of snacks. Chocolate? Nah. Beef jerky? Too chewy. Peanut M&Ms? Normally a yes, but no. I'm picky about snacks for the plane ride.

I browse and browse until I found a solid airplane snack choice - Pringles...but PAPRIKA flavored. We can't even get these back in the states! Which is a shame because paprika is such an awesome flavor. As exotic as it may sound, paprika is just a mildly flavored dried chili powder. Okay, the Pringles are definitely a go.
Paprika
But as I start to make my way over to the cash register, the ONE catches my eyes. Gummy sour strings. A biiiiiiiiig bag of gummy sour strings. These sugary delights have been my favorite since middle school. Side note: in ancient Chinese food therapy, sour foods have long been heralded as a must have for travelers. Sour foods are thought to jump start the appetite and energize the body. I could definitely use some appetite jumpstarting and body energizing after this week long backpacking trip.

To make it even better, these are not just any ole' regular sour strips. These were the king of all sour strips - the four flavor combo pack. The long strips of yummy sweet and sour gummy goodness covered in a sea of tangy sour crystals. The strings come in four colors: red, yellow, green, and blue - corresponding to a world of fruity flavor possibilities. Cherry? Banana? Apple? Raspberry? Or watermelon? Pineapple? Kiwi? Mystery flavor? No matter what the flavors could be, this, in short, was heaven in a bag.
Heaven in a bag.


Triumphantly, I continue my walk over to the cash register when it occurred to me that I should check how much cash I actually have. The Pringles were 1.5 and the Sour Strings 2.2.

I search through my coin purse, and piece together a mere 1.8. 1.8! It is enough to buy the Pringles, but definitely not enough to buy the sour strings, and there is no way I would board that plane without a bag of sour gummies to snack on. Actually, I was not prepared to give up either of my treasures.
Tragedy strikes.

"Boarding for Air France flight number 40 is beginning at Gate 19" the overhead speakers blared.

I dig through my coin purse again. Pennies? Quarters! Useless here in my pursuit of sour strings. I need Euros, and fast. Only Euros will buy me the snacks that will ensure a plane ride of contentedness and joy.

"B, do you have any Euros left?" I ask my travel companion, who became slightly terrified at the urgency of my question.

"Err...no. Sorry" B replied.

I panic, and proceed to pace up and down the aisles of this small convenience store. "I won't leave without either!" my thoughts raced as I paced. "What do I do?"

You, the reader, by now must have thought of a simple and elegant solution. Why not use a credit card? Silly Jinnabobeena.

You see. In my sleep-deprived delirium, I somehow had it in my mind that 1) I must use all my Euros and 2) It is a sign from above that if I were meant to have these snacks, I would somehow have enough change to pay for them. If I did not have enough cash on me, then I wasn't meant to have these snacks. It's crazy, but that was my thought process at the time. So using a credit card was not an option for me (even though it was a completely valid option).

"Will all passengers who are boarding Air France flight number 40 please come to Gate 19." the speakers rang once more.

I was running out of time. Somehow I had spent way more time in this store than I originally planned. Time flies when you are in a snack crisis in an airport convenience store.

I cursed myself for buying that Orangina out of the vending machine earlier on. It was a very mediocre drink! And with that money, I would be swimming in Sour String and Pringle land by now. Bad, bad life decisions.
I continued to pace up and down the aisles of the small shop. B, my ever-so-patient travel companion, is now looking at me with a mixture of sympathy and bewilderment.

"Err...Jinna? I think we should board soon. Like...now." B prompted as gently as he could.

"But I NEED these snacks!" I cried. My adrenalized fervor for top-notch airplane snacks cannot be stopped.

Both of us search our pockets again. Nothing. No coins.

Exasperated, I looked to the ceiling, for a sign, for anything. I was literally looking at the ceiling. Was I really not meant to have these delicious snacks?

As a last hail-mary of sorts, I search through my coin purse again. Keeping in mind I had searched through it at least three times already during my time at the airport, for the drinks vending machine and at the gift shop.

But wait...

What is this? A shiny two-Euro coin smiling at me, in its full silver and gold glory. I held it between my fingers, unable to believe my good fortune. This is impossible, I had almost given up but, here it is, two Euros. Two Euros will buy me BOTH the Sour Strings (my 1st choice snack), AND the paprika Pringles (my 2nd choice snack). I am the luckiest girl in the world!

I had always believed in miracles, but I had never witnessed a miracle happen in real life until that moment. B was also stunned, but I, JinnaBobeena, was beyond ecstatic. No, ecstatic is not the word. I was an uncontrollable ball of joy and cheer and every happy feeling in the world. I probably literally glowed with the sheer amount of happiness I was experiencing. I might have even teared up a little. Have you had a moment when you got exactly what you wished for? Well that was me! Times two. I got the exact TWO things in the world that I wanted, seconds after when I thought it was impossible.

I bounce toward the cash register with my Pringles and Sour Strings, ready to claim my prizes.

"I would like to pay for these two items please!" I beam at the cashier, a stout blonde woman probably in her mid-forties. She probably didn't understand English. It doesn't matter. She knows what I'm there to do.
I was this happy.


The cashier lady seemed scared; nay, terrified, when I smiled at her with a level of  joy equal to the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. She has probably never seen someone so happy. I have never seen someone else this happy. My smile is a Cheshire Cat's grin, combined with the unstoppable joy of a Miss America contestant seeing a slice of pizza for the first time post-pageant.

The transaction went swimmingly. As I held my snacks in my hands, I remember remarking to myself. "This, is the happiest moment of my life."

And the rest is history. We made it to the gate still with ten minutes to spare, phew! (There were still people boarding! We weren't THOSE stragglers holding up the plane) On the plane ride back home,  I devoured my snacks with gusto, even sharing some with B. He agreed that these two snacks were both excellent choices. I have a hunch that everyone in our vicinity were intensely envious of my Sour Strings, as they should be. Even at the last bite, I still couldn't identify the four fruity flavors by taste, but they were all oh-so-delicious.




No comments:

Post a Comment