Halcyon Days

I’ve spent the last few days with my sister and other family members camping in the beautiful Flathead Valley in the Montana mountains. In recent years we have had a designated weekend for the Jones (my family of origin) side of the family to gather. It’s our attempt at keeping connection since my parents passed because it’s very easy to just go about separate lives and lose touch. Quite often on these weekends together, Sandy and I reminisce about childhood experiences and we find that each of us have memories that the other wasn’t aware of.  It’s like mining for buried treasure in our pasts and it often leads to laughter and a sense of gratitude that we grew up the way we did.  Now we enjoy sharing great memories of happy times.

In a book I’m currently reading, I came across the term “halcyon days”.  It’s a literary term and I had encountered it before and understood the basic meaning, but had never explored where the term came from.  It refers to times of happiness and contentment, a sort of idyllic view of periods in our lives that leave us with a sense of nostalgia and satisfaction.  It’s a feeling of serenity and peacefulness with some joy mixed in such that we remember them vividly.

“Halcyon” comes from a Greek myth and is a story of Alcyone (or Halcyon), the daughter of Aeolus, the god of winds, and Ceyx, son of the morning star.  Halcyon and Ceyx married and were blissfully happy.  Somehow in their love story, they angered Zeus, so while Ceyx was out at sea, the god threw a thunderbolt at Ceyx’s ship and killed him and his crew.  In her grief, Halcyon threw herself into the sea.  The gods took pity on her and turned her into a kingfisher who built her nest floating at sea at the winter solstice.  Supposedly the Greek gods calmed the winds and seas for the nesting and hatching of her offspring.  Thanks to the legend, halcyon days came to refer to any peaceful time in the midst of adversity.  Through time and more modern literature, it mostly refers to joyful and innocent times in a person’s life.

I’m quite sure most of us can look back in our lifespans and remember some times that are etched in our memories as exquisite, peaceful, unforgettable moments.  For me those might include riding my favorite horse bareback over the hills and valleys of our acreage along the Montana Missouri River.   I think of family picnics to Lyons Creek with a fat watermelon floating in the water to stay cool.  I have joyful memories of laughing till I cried with my best friend over the silliest things.  Snuggling my newborns in the middle of the night ranks right up there.  I definitely would include watching the sun go down on my favorite Maui beach and searching with my kids for starfish in tide pools on the Oregon Coast. 

What do halcyon days look like for you?  Are they all in the past, or are they something we can still create at our current stage of life?  I want to be more intentional about making opportunities to experience more of them.  We may not be able to plan for them to happen at specific points in time, but the more we leave ourselves open to making room for beautiful, peaceful, joyful moments, the better chance they will happen.  “The quintessential human psyche has a tendency to reminisce about the halcyon days.  But we must remind ourselves daily that our potential is still inchoate (just beginning) and our best days are ahead of us” (Jeff Davis).  Let’s agree together to allow more time for halcyon days starting now.  What does your next halcyon adventure look like?