Everyday Canvas

We're All Stunt People

Prompt: "I just want to live happily ever after, every now and then." Jimmy Buffet Do you agree with Jimmy?

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Who am I to disagree with Jimmy? Although at my age I have stopped looking for adventure, since adventure has been finding me on its own.

After all, aren't we all stunt (wo)men? We’ve all lived and are living in iffy situations. Even when we think we've established a good setup and we’ve got it made, we don’t really know we’ve got it made for good.

First, nothing ever stays the same. Things can change in the blink of an eye. Those people we’re attached to leave, change, or die. Things break, corrode, or are snitched away from us. Then, because we have this sugar-plum-fairy idea of forever-happiness, we minimize, look over, or discard those negative or even positive happenings.

For all of the above reasons, if we are alive, we are living an adventure, as adventure is allowing the unexpected happen to you. Some of us, because we’re control freaks, take it upon us to up the ante with adventure by climbing mountains, jumping in parachutes, or trekking inside the jungles of any kind.

Whether we knowingly seek extra adventure or not, every decision we make will be made with incomplete information. There is no escaping that. There will, however, always exist a lot of unknowns even if we think we’ve arranged everything to our liking. Thus, complete happiness is impossible, if for nothing but for noticing all the misery in our immediate or long-distance world.

In which case, we can only hope for a lift, be it only now and then.

"Happily Ever After (Now And Then)" by Jimmy Buffett

I've been a stand-in, a stunt man
I've takin' some falls
Troubles... I've had my share
But one has to learn how to run before walkin'
'Round breathin' that million air

Take it from me cuz I found
If you leave it then somebody else is bound
To find that treasure, that moment of pleasure
When yours, it could have been

Some people never find it
Some... only pretend, but me:
I just want to live happily ever after every now and then

I've been in vans and in bands
On and through stages
One thing I can conclude
One has to learn havin' fun is just smilin' through
Those Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
Take it from me cuz I've found
If you leave it then somebody else is bound
To find that treasure, that moment of pleasure
When yours, it could have been

Some people never find it
Some... only pretend, but me:
I just want to live happily ever after every now and then

Some people never find it
Some... only pretend, but me, hell:
I just want to live happily ever after every now and then