"It is okay to be happy"

It is hard for me to grasp sometimes: the idea that I can be happy. I remember a girl who would lie her exaughisted body in front of her stereo and beg for the music to take her away. Now I see a woman who eats dinner and sits on the couch and laughs. I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to learn to laugh. To really laugh: freely, from the bottom of your stomach, screeching breaths and hiccuping as you go. As someone wise said, “It is okay to be happy.”