Beam-me up! by Maarten Trybou

Happiness is sometimes right on your doorstep. That’s where Bijgaardepark is. On the last day of the year, I took another stroll through the park, looking for something beautiful. Something of true beauty. Because that makes me happy. But there wasn’t much to see. Wet grass, brown leaves, snapped stems, bare trees… Winter presented a bleak sight.

I had almost finished my walk when suddenly these little mushrooms caught my eye. They had sprung from the rotting trunk of a cherry tree that has been lying there for years. Two small, delicate, perfect little mushrooms, probably less than a day old and barely a centimetre in size.

The ribbed caps gave away that they were a type of Mycena. There are many species of these that are quite difficult to tell apart, sometimes even under the microscope based on the shape of the spores. They are almost all of those very small, brown-grey mushrooms, with a slender stem and a translucent, rounded or pointed cap. They are not at all rare, but you can easily overlook them. They grow on dead wood or simply on the ground.

I thought they were magnificent. I had no idea where that soft, blue glow was coming from, though. Perhaps it was the reflection of the filtered sunlight on the purplish-red cherry tree trunk?

But the midday sun suddenly peeked through the trees, setting the little scene ablaze. The lighting changed by the second and it just got more and more beautiful. I squealed with delight. There was that happiness! It was actually a succession of different little moments of happiness. And right on my doorstep!

Just as quickly as the light had appeared, it vanished again. Happiness can indeed pass quickly, and even though it’s sometimes there for the taking, you have to seize it when you can.