Samantha asks Darrin,
 "Are you happy?"

Darrin says,
 "I have a beautiful wife,
 a beautiful daughter,
 a nice home, a great job…
 Yes, I am happy."

Darrin believes Sam loves him.
 But is he happy because Sam loves him
 or because he loves Sam?

Earlier, he was stressed—
 a demand from work,
 pressure from his job.

So, does his job make him happy?
 Or does his job only make him happy
 because of the love of Sam,
 his love for Sam,
 and his love for Tabitha?

But Darrin doesn’t need Tabitha
 to love him.
 She is too young
 to love in a way he would notice.

---

They say you shouldn’t need a relationship
 to be happy.

They say you must first love yourself.
 That you must already be happy.
 That no relationship
 can give you
 what you don’t already have.

If that’s true,

then would Darrin still be happy
 without Sam?
 Would Sam still be happy
 without Darrin?

Could they lose each other
 and be just as fulfilled?

---

Darrin was happy before he met Sam.
 But this happiness is different.
 This happiness is more.

Darrin cannot say
 that life would be just as good
 without their love.

Would Sam say the same?

If they lost each other,
 wouldn’t they grieve?
 Wouldn’t they ache?
 Wouldn’t they know, undeniably,
 that what they had
 was greater
 than what they were alone?

---

Since Darrin loves Sam,
 and since Darrin believes
 that Sam loves him,
 and since Sam believes
 that Darrin loves her,

then neither must have needed
 to be in a relationship to be happy.

And yet—

if they lost their love,
 would they be happy?

Wouldn’t that happiness—
 the happiness they were told
 had to exist independently—
 collapse under grief?

Then was it ever separate at all?

---

What is the meaning
 of Sam’s love for Darrin?
 What is the meaning
 of Darrin’s love for Sam?

What is the meaning of each’s love
 for themselves?

What is the meaning of happiness?

What is the meaning of life?