Learning happiness from an old photograph

My grandmother was a wise and remarkable woman. She taught me many things, but the most valuable gift she gave me was this picture of her playing with her friends. Many years after she passed away, I can only remember a few of the things she said to me. But when I hold this picture, I remember how to live a good life.

If she had tried to whisper the secret to me, I wouldn't have heard it. Instead, she lived it, and when I see the joy in this picture, I live it too. I see that joy cannot be chased and caught. If I go running after it, it will run away just as fast. I can only catch it where it lives, right here, right now. When I give my whole heart to this moment and these people and this place, magic happens. Thank you, Gramma, for the sound of your laughter, still echoing to me through an old photograph.