“Happiness isn’t good enough for me. I demand euphoria.” This quote from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was my go-to line whenever I wanted to crib about the remarkable boredom of mundane life.

I wanted life to be nothing less than a series of exciting events. But sometimes my yearning for extraordinary experiences would overpower my awareness of the gift of the ordinary–things that are often taken for granted–such as the sense of sight, smell, and taste, and the mere existence of family and friends in our lives.

Few years ago, my body experienced shock because of dengue that caused painful breathing for a day. Every second of those 24 hours felt like an eternity. I tried to recall what it feels like to breathe normally, but the feeling was elusive not only because the pain was overbearing, but also because I hardly ever tried to register earlier the blessing of effortless breathing.

Ordinary things become extraordinary in extraordinary circumstances.

Last year, my father went through an aggressive treatment for throat cancer. During the initial stages of his treatment, he could have only a fluid diet from his mouth, but he still wasn’t able to have water, because when he’d swallow it would come out of his nose. One day after he was somehow able to drink one glass of water, it became good news in our family. We celebrated that moment. We realized that something as simple as being able to drink water could be so precious. This small victory gave us strength to overcome challenges in the journey ahead.

Soon, my father started having difficulty breathing. An opening had to be created in his neck to let air pass into the lungs directly. This procedure of creating this opening in the neck also came at the cost of him losing his voice. For months, I communicated with him through texts only. This February, I got a call from his phone number and I thought that was my mom but when I answered the call, I heard a hoarse voice saying “Aur bhai kya chal raha hai” [Hey! How is it going?]. I had been craving to hear his voice. My father was able to speak again. He is also able to breathe normally now. These experiences have filled our lives with a constant feeling of immense gratitude.

Even today, after these experiences, it’s not like I don’t desire moments of euphoria in my life. I still do, but even while I look for them, I remember to steal moments from my ordinary life to marvel at the beauty of the universe and all the ways it speaks to me–the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the moon, the vastness of the sky and the tender presence of my loved ones in my life that make the inherent beauty in the world even more explicit for me.

During the pandemic, we have come to the realization that being able to breathe, taste and smell normally is a big deal. We know the price of things, but we become aware of the value of things during difficult times.

Now I come back to Calvin and Hobbes. “Life’s never too bad that it can’t get worse”. So, while we have all that we have and while we look for all that we don’t, let’s not forget to celebrate the gift of the ordinary.