THIS STORY FOR MEDIUM WAS IN RESPONSE TO A PROMPT ABOUT HOW HAPPY, ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10, YOU ARE.

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Four days ago, a Democrat won the mayoral race in Miami, the first time in 30 years. On Rodrigo S-C’s happiness scale of 1 to 10, that’s a 6 for this Blue party guy. The low turnout in this Red city tempered my positive feelings. Is it really a foreshadowing of doom for the Republicans and Donald Trump in 2026?

Three nights ago, the local men’s and women’s Luther College basketball teams won games, a 9 for this Luther Blue fan. The men broke a four-game losing streak, and the women beat a good team. Last week, both teams were bested by a long-time rival, which brought my mood down to a 2. Later that day, my favorite state school teams, the Iowa Hawkeye Women and Men, won their games, bumping my sports spirits up a few notches.

Last night, Rebecca gently suggested I’d been in a blue funk all day because the recent snowstorms made it impossible to take my daily 10,000-step walks. As I ruminated about my hiking path that won’t be cleared of snow and ice until next year, I bottomed out at a 3.

But then Rebecca fixed gin and tonics, and we went into the living room and listened to mellow Holiday music.

Soon, very soon, my happiness numbers crept upward until I checked my phone and read a text from my son, Ben. Bob Dylan will be performing a concert nearby on March 24, and am I interested?

Of course I am. This would be Bob — concert # 7 for Ben and me. Then I checked my calendar and saw that Rebecca and I are babysitting in St. Louis, March 15–26. Oh no!

Rebecca’s son, Jonathon, and family live in St. Louis, and they had asked us weeks ago whether we were free on those dates. We love visiting them and enjoy helping with two-year-old Alice and eight-year-old Irene.

And Ben will also be going to the concert with a friend, so he doesn’t really need me for company. But Bob is 82; even he can’t tour forever.

Well, Rebecca and I can take two cars so that I can come back early. However, it’s a six-hour drive, and so much easier and safer when we trade off at the wheel. And in mid-March, it will be warmer in St. Louis.

Oh, those Rodrigo numbers, up and down, like my blood pressure.

Early this morning, I awoke from a dream. I had died and gone to heaven. Oh oh, I thought. The nuns and priests were wrong. That’s Buddha up ahead.

Bummer.

But then I remembered what he said: Everything changes.

And smiled, topping out at a 10.

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Thanks to 

Rodrigo S-C. for this prompt on happiness. I feel so much better now than when I began this story.