Paradise

At the moment, I have spent apx. 10 hours at Liseberg, an amusment park in Sweden. I have been carrying huge stuffed animals, and the largest chocolate bar I have seen. And I have been carrying them for a very long time, while watching people running back and forth, screaming and laughing.

This is what we do when we want our kids to have a great time, away from kindergarten and all the daily chores at home.

Now, when it's all over, I asked them what they want to do tomorrow. Both of them say that they want to go back to Liseberg - the place they never wanted to leave in the first place.

This is what I thought paradise was like when I was a child.

And I understand why this is what paradise is like for my kids, about thirty years later.

They haven't been told no all day, it's been yes every time they have asked a question. They have been on all the cool rides all day long, they have eaten a month consumption of candy in one day, and they have stayed up three hours longer than they usually do. Well, they are still not sleeping, so they have actually been inside the amusement park way longer than they usually are awake.

I am laying on the bed in the hotel room, looking at my kids, while they are chanting some words I don't quite understand. They are smiling, having a wonderful time, probably going to be awake for a few more hours. And I am thinking, this is what paradise is like as an adult.

To me, paradise is not a place, but a state of mind.