What's your perfect moment?

The time when my joke successfully entertained everyone in a competition. I was amused by my success and the joke itself that I laughed so hard. I had that feeling of I-don’t-care-if-the-world-ends-right-now-as-long-as-I’m-still-standing-and-laughing.

To quote Arnold Schwarzenegger:
”“The greatest feeling you can get in a gym or the most satisfying feeling you can get in the gym is the pump. Let’s say you train your biceps, blood is rushing in to your muscles and that’s what we call the pump. Your muscles get a really tight feeling like your skin is going to explode any minute and its really tight and its like someone is blowing air into your muscle and it just blows up and it feels different, it feels fantastic. It’s as satisfying to me as cumming is, you know, as in having sex with a woman and cumming. So can you believe how much I am in heaven? I am like getting the feeling of cumming in the gym; I’m getting the feeling of cumming at home; I’m getting the feeling of cumming backstage; when I pump up, when I pose out in front of 5000 people I get the same feeling, so I am cumming day and night. It’s terrific, right? So you know, I am in heaven.””

The moment they handed me each of my children after birth and I looked into their eyes.

A reoccurring moment is on a quiet, weekend afternoon. Windows open, train in the distance, birds chirping – maybe a little jazz playing. My wife and daughter are occupied and quiet (reading, in the yard, etc.) — and I lay down for a deep, dream-filled nap. Everything is at peace.

In that moment, if I never woke up again, I’d be okay with that.

The first one is selfish, the next one not so. When you hit the perfect golf shot, or shoot a basketball and you know instantly it’s going to be perfect, you just feel it leaving your hands and it drops clean through. That’s pretty cool. The other one was watching my niece that’s loved and trusted me since she was tiny, getting married to a really nice guy. I taught her how to hit a ball way back when, and more importantly, that there isn’t anything she can’t do.

A perfect moment, for me, is a moment that cannot be improved upon. There have been many. Moments without desire, a feeling that all is well, that this is the way things are and ought to be. Sometimes it happens when I’m alone at sea; a moment when the wind is right and fresh and steady, the sails are set with no luff at all, the wheel requires little or no adjustment, the hull is silently, smoothly cutting through mother ocean at perfect speed and no roll. Even the clouds in the sky seem perfectly placed, especially that one suspended over a small, green, mountainous island in the distance..

I get this wonderful feeling of universal proprioception; that I know exactly where I am on the globe, in the universe, and in my slot among other humans. Sometimes this feeling is reached after meditation. It sometimes happens after coitus with the right lover, and that is especially gratifying when shared.

Welcome to Fluther, @Bluish. GQ.

Sometimes it’s the rare time I spend at the beach, when the weather is perfect, I hear the waves, I smell the ocean, I hear the seagulls, and maybe I’m watching my daughter or playing with her in the water.

Sometimes, it’s a great afternoon on my deck. The umbrella will be up, the skies will be maybe partly cloudy, the air is dry and there will be a little breeze.

The most recent one might’ve been swimming in the ocean with my dog, side by side, both chasing the same ball. The water was wonderful, sun setting…

Getting home after a long day is a recurring one for me, too.

Those moments are few and far between.

The last one I can recall is sitting with my wife on the rocks looking out over the Hubbard Glacier after hiking our ass off and trying hard to avoid a couple of bears to get to that point.

@cookieman Sounds perfect…

@Adirondackwannabe 1st one: I know! The “I’m the best, yaaay” feeling :D 2nd one: That’s so sweet, I love family stories.

@Espiritus_Corvus I’ve heard this from other people as well, the pure perfection of a moment like that, how beautiful the sea can be and how one can feel so free and inspired to really live. Sounds amazing :) And the second moment/feeling you described, oh I remember thinking “Well, this is what it’s all about, I get it now..” like finally understanding the purpose of us being here.

@jca The beach <3 only went to the beach once this summer and feeling awful about it

@rojo Why few?

@bluish: I like big waves. For me, there are beaches not far from here but there are not big waves (bay beach). For me to go to beaches with big waves, I either have to go to Long Island, which is a few hours south east, or up the coast (usually for me it’s Cape Cod). So unfortunately, I may only get a few beach sessions per summer, at most.

@bluish #2 That might be the best lesson I have ever passed on. My nephew and I were playing baseball, and he was doing well. My niece tried, and was really bad. My mother even had the gall to say girls aren’t supposed to be able to do that. That pissed me off. So I worked with her for a while, just getting her to watch the ball. Then she started hitting it better than my nephew. She had this beautiful smile each time. That was pretty sweet.

@bluish for the most part, life is pretty mundane. But, I guess that is what puts the special in special moments.