The Treasured Tsunami

What is happiness? How do you get the key to life? If you ask me, being self-centered is the answer. People don’t like me, because I am self-centered. Why can't I have the permission to like myself?

It was a lovely summer day, and I was pumping for the girls. Mom and Dad came home, and told me that we were going on a holiday to France with their two friends. I told them it sucked. Why would I go to France with my parents...Well, because they had a daughter. She was 15 years old, and her name was Ave Maria. The name said it all. We quickly pack our bags, and in the blink of an eye, we were hitting the road for France. When we got there, we drove pass the beach, and it simply looked amazing. The beach was huge, and the content of humans was smaller than back home. The weather was fabulous, and it was really hot. It wasn’t long, before the evening covered up the country. Ave Maria talked a lot to me, and she seemed to like me. But she wasn’t going to pull the strings, therefore I asked if we could go the beach ALONE, so she could see the astonishing body of Benjamin. And for the first time in my lonely life, this one girl actually didn’t care about me being happy for myself. She just gave me that Ave-alike grin that she had. We were bathing, and the sunset was lying perfectly low. The shining of the sun sharpened her and everything else became blurred, and for the first time in my life, anything else than myself was centered around her. She was like an angel, when she waved her hair in slow-motion.. Suddenly, I saw the waves waving the other way. I knew what was about to happen. Out of the blue, I shouted ‘’RUN!’’. At first she didn’t understand, but we ran. I told her to call her parents. They simply had to prepare the automobile, otherwise we wouldn't be able to make it. So she did and we ran. If you haven’t figured out already it was a tsunami, just about to re-make us into fossils. We ran, and ran and ran and ran, faster and faster, instincts were drawing out into every single gene that we had. She stumbled, and her leg was totally busted. She was crying, because she couldn’t walk. She said that I should go without her. And I was wondering… Should I live to fight another day? Or should I die to become a fossil today? But my feelings for her overran me, and I took her up on my shoulders, bellowed like Tarzan and I ran faster than ever before. I could almost feel the tsunami blow me in the neck, and I saw the car. They were ready, and off we were! We drove like Hell was haunting us! We could hear buildings crash, and we witnessed the crying and wailing of all the innocents. The helpless. The children. I felt blessed… Not only did we survive, but I helped another human-being. I saved a life.

 Speaking of surviving, the tsunami closed in! My mother passed out. So did Ave Maria. We spotted a hill, which seemed to be big enough to overcome the tsunami. We drove up, and when we stood out, the tsunami banged on the hill so hard that we all fell. It was bad. When I got up I helped my mother. She wasn't doing so well. Then I walked to the edge. I looked down on the worst thing in my life. For the first time in my life I shed a tear on the ways of other people, who wasn’t familiar to me. Anyway, as we stood on the hilltop the water of the tsunami had surrounded us. Nevertheless, we waited for the some of the water to dry on one side of the hill. We finally crossed the low-laying water. Home Sweet Home. My life changed since that day. I was happy in another way than usually. Ave Maria was stunned and staggered. When I tried to comfort her, she punched me in the face, kicked me in the nuts, gave me a nipple-twister, but I just asked ‘’Will you marry me Ave Maria?’’ She said yes. Time grew fast and I became a biologist, and she became a geologist. The adventure of my life had just begun.

And here I am, 105 years old. Since that day, it was meant to be me and her. Who would have thought that a tsunami would treasure me? We got married in the age of 15. We have been married for 90 years now. Now, what I wanted to tell with this story is that you must not be afraid to be glad of yourself or being yourself. No matter what people say, you’ve got to be happy. It’s sure better than hating yourself, thinking you’re fat or ugly. Though, if you're able to be a sympathetic human, even though, you are self-centered then you’re in possession of a respectable virtue. But in the end, there will be one person who loves you just the way you are. I mean look at me now. I’ve had my granite wedding, and I am still the happiest person in the universe. The adventure of my life still wages on.

‘’When I was 5 years old my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.’’   -John Lennon

                                                                                                                           

 Benjamin Aakjær