Domestic Happiness

Blogging is one of the ways to calming my mind. It is 10.00 PM and I'm in my bedroom with a glass of coffee stare blankly into my laptop screen looking for interesting things to write. I said in the beginning that blogging is a way to calming my mind, well, drinking coffee is also another way. In fact, I have this unfinished post for almost three weeks now. I still remember why I wanted to write this particular blog post with the title of domestic happiness. But I got lazy? maybe sleepy? or stuck? that I ended up just wrote the title and close the page altogether. Weeks ago, my mom and I went for a walk to buy a broomstick in this old grocery store in our neighborhood. The shop's owner is an old man with a pretty interesting character. This old man has a custom to always share his belief and view about God with me and my mom. A simple broomstick or other cleaning tools shopping could turn into a deep ideology sharing moment pretty quickly. No kidding. I said sharing while in fact my mom and I usually just stare into each other eyes with 'what is happening?' look when the owner started to ramble when he see us instead of asking a normal 'what do you need?' 

I thought maybe the fault is on our side because my mom would open with 'Hello sir, How are you?' for politeness every time we visit. We normally come to this shop for just two or three times a year for almost twenty years. In fact, we, my mom, and I live in this neighborhood for almost thirty years now, so exchanging greetings while meeting familiar faces is just out of spontaneity.

Three or four years ago, I remember he told us in one of our visit that he's a Christian but refuse to go to the church. He doesn't trust the building and any form of the constitution is a structure God wanted for Christian people. The church is a man-made therefore it's far from sacred. He was sure that if he living high and rightly, there is no need to go to the church. Let me recreate the conversation to give you guys a better picture. Below was a recent dialogue from weeks ago:

..

Mom: "Hello sir, how are you?"

Shop Owner (hates church): "I'm fine, I'm fine. It's been so long! How are you? what took you guys so   long to come to visit again?"

Mom: "We're good. Sir do you have a.."

Shop Owner (hates church): "The worlds been pretty weird lately, huh? living people are afraid of dying. But dying people also afraid to live! right?"

(me: Dear God what is happening again)

Mom: "Haha what do you mean?"

(me: Mom being crazy by asking)

Shop Owner (hates church): "Yes. you know that if people already died and asked if they wanted to live again? they all would refuse it!"

Mom: "It's funny. How come dead people get asked a question like that"

Shop Owner (hates church): "It is true. You know what, I believe in God! but I have no trust in any religion"

Mom: "How come, sir? how that possibly happen? haha"

Shop Owner (an agnostic?): "Yes, it is possible. You don't have to hold onto a religion to believe in God. Religions are man-made. As long as I do no harm to other people, living right and believe in God I don't need to have a religion"

.

That staccato conversation is true I tell you. I guess this old man is just lonely and happy to see familiar faces and feeling cozy to share personal views with us. I don't know why maybe it's because my mom and I have a chill look in our eyes? A look that said, share anything bro, we're not here to judge. It is pretty interesting to be part of someone changing too. Years ago, he still believe in God in a religious context. Now, he didn't even believe about religion anymore. 

Before I got carried away, this quarantine time making me aware of little happiness deeper and deeper as days go by. I called this domestic happiness. This old man lives inside his shop for as long as I can remember. He always and never fails a day to sit in front of his shop every afternoon while drinking tea and looking at the passerby. He also never fails to share his life view whenever familiar faces visit to shop.

I live in a suburban where people always look content with their families and live here for a minimum of 5 years to maximum, their whole life. Any other day, my neighborhood and its people would make wanted to puke. Being at home the whole day with my family also makes me wanted to puke sometimes. Now that I realize that the only person with problems is me. I wanted to be grateful for little happiness that comes from mundane lives. Who knows that to be able to live a mundane life can be a privilege now that the world is in this pandemic and chaos?