Heaven Adjacent

by Catherine Ryan Hyde

“Because it’s everything a person needs to live a decent life. It has a stove for heat. A fridge to keep your food cold and a stove to cook it when you’re ready to eat it. It has a bathtub and a shower to get you clean after your chores and a bed to lie down in at the end of the day. And that’s all a person really needs. And I think the whole

trouble with us is that we think we need so much more.”

not too many people were neurotic back then. Who had the time for it? Now we spend our spare time getting addicted. To drugs or alcohol, or our smartphones, or the internet, or checking our email, or shopping for all that ‘more stuff’ we think we need.”

When had she begun making bargains with life to avoid extra trouble, and, with it, any joy whatsoever?

“I’m starting to see that we make choices at an early age,” Roseanna continued, “when we’re too young to know what will make us happy. But they’re more or less permanent choices. They don’t have to be, I guess. But somehow we end up thinking they have to be.

We blame them for the fact that we’re not happy. Because that’s easier than blaming ourselves. Because if we blame ourselves, then we have to fix it, and that’s a tricky thing.”

So you’d best be prepared to pass the time some other way. Good conversation if you’re not alone. Worthwhile thoughts if you are.

moment. All of a sudden they realize they’re about to be out of time. They start thinking about how they want to live while they still can.” He waited briefly for her to go on. But she was hoping she wouldn’t need to. “But

But we waste our precious time. Why? Why do we live like we’re not going to die?”

“Then I’d say you did the right thing, miss. Running away from home and all.”

“Because they’re not happy, miss. Haven’t you noticed that? Because hardly anybody is happy.”

“I’m beginning to think that’s the reason we’re all down here on this planet together. To try to make things a little easier for each other. Why else would we interact with people at all? You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but if you feel like talking about it, I don’t mind.”

who was most definitely a breakfast person, was enjoying her breakfast when

All big

changes are scary. And it’s scary to think of being without money. It

“I’ve been acting like heaven is a place with no people in it, so there’ll be no one to bother me. Like that’s what’s really important in life—no minor irritations. But then there’s no one to delight me, either.

“No, I don’t mean that. I don’t mean everything will work out exactly the way I want it to. I can’t possibly know that. I mean whatever happens, I’ll be okay. People get by in all kinds of situations.

Yes, indeed, that is my pattern, and then continue to do it that way all the same. No. Sooner or later you had to get up off your sorry butt and do a little better for yourself.