Paradise

As I checked my e-mail and dawdled on the Internet, my not-quite-two-year-old nephew raised his arms toward me, silently communicating that he wanted to do what I was doing.  I picked him up and got him situated.  He watched me click around on the screen for maybe half a minute before he said, "pauwa."  He repeated this sound over and over again, and still I could not understand.  I was about to give up on the poor guy, when my sister-in-law walked by.

"Jacki!  What does 'pauwa' mean?"

"Oh, he wants to watch the Coldplay video 'Paradise.'"

Of course.  Why didn't I think of that?  So together we watched "Paradise."  He sang along to the chorus as I stared at what seemed to be one of the most bizarre videos I've seen in a while.  (I barely watch TV anymore, and I rarely check out music videos.  Internet killed the video star?)  By the end of the video, though, I wanted to give a high-five to Coldplay.  In just over four minutes, they expressed what I think so many of us feel.  What I feel.

That is, paradise is being with people who understand you.  It's being with people you understand.  When Chris Martin saw the hazy outline of his elephant comrades and dropped his unicycle, I thought, "This is the feeling I'm searching for in a spouse."  But it's also the feeling I already experience with some of my family members and friends.  Sure, I love to meet people different from myself, but there might be no other feeling better than the one experienced when I am in the company of someone I can be myself around.

I get a similar feeling when I watch The Ugly Duckling.  Or when I watched this Kishi Bashi video today: Bright Whites.

Here's Coldplay's "Paradise."



Thing I'm thankful for: unpacking