A Vignette

"But what about my hopes and dreams?" he asked.

"I think you will still have them." she replied.

"Well, I think I always will, or at least until they come true."

"Look around you. Look all around you and tell me what else you could want.", she said.

He paused, as patient people do, and thought about what she had just said.

"I think you must be the most brilliant woman I've ever met."
"Don't be sarcastic. I hate that" she scolded.
"No, no, no. I'm not. I'm very serious. I just had an epiphany or revelation or whatever."

She took a drag from her cigarette while she awaited this new wisdom.

"This American dream, this American promise of the better something. You know? The 'You can do anything that you put your mind to' mentality...I always loved that idea. But you know what I think I just realized? I think it might be bullshit. As a matter of fact, I'm sure of it. It's one hundred percent, grade A caca my friend."
"What are you even talking about?" she asked and then quietly giggled a bit.

"I'm serious. We always want something else. The cliche stuff aside, big cars and houses and all that nonsense...we were brought up to believe that life was something bigger than it is. I, I, what I mean is this: We were all told by our parents, then our teachers, then our friends, then our pastors and God knows who else that life is only what you make of it right?"

"Well, yeah..."

"And if we are always chasing some phantom life that is better than the one we have then we will keep chasing our tails, conceivably, forever. But what if life is just one second following another second until a lot of seconds add up to a bunch of decisions and then a personality and loves and desires and all that shit? What if we only accepted life as it is, and instead of buying into romance, what if we all just started to fully appreciate and dive inside, like scuba dive deep inside our own meaningless, stupid everyday lives? What if everyone was just thankful for the opportunity to take out the trash because the sun is outside and the ground is cold on your feet and you feel strong when you throw the bag over the fence into the big trash bin and the wind rushes through your hair when you turn around and head back to your front door and you can hear someone's dog bark in a yard somewhere and someone's kid cries about something and all of this combines into one giant ball of life that we couldn't even know about if we weren't given the simple gift of consciousness?"

"Well, the kitchen trash is full." she sneered.

"God, I love you."

"You fucking better."

He smiled and kissed her lovingly.

"We are happy." he thought "And nobody gets to know how but us."
"We are happy." she thought "And I hope he doesnt think I was kidding about the trash. I left some chicken in there and it smells like shit."

They stopped kissing.
"I think I just figured out how to be happy forever." he said.
"You're welcome." she smiled.
"We're like Hepburn and Tracy...little teamwork and all."
"Only in color." she corrected.
"Huh?"
"You know, cause I'm Mexican and you're white. I was being racist against Los Brownies."
"My dear God you are so ignorant." he said.
"And you are a dickhead. We are perfect for each other."
"Well, you're the only one who could put up with me...if that's what you mean." he said.
"I think you just quoted my wedding vows." she replied.