There are innumerable websites and self-help books to help you find your happy place. But most experts say you don't need a map to get there, because it's not a place but a state of mind. That's where they're wrong.
The agricultural town of Happy is in northern Texas, on Highway 87 in Randall and Swisher counties, part of the wider metropolitan area of Amarillo. Happy is, in fact, on the way to Amarillo. Understandably, it would be impossible to drive through Happy without humming a certain tune, especially if the day was dawning, on a Sunday morning … just don't expect locals to join in. Turns out Tony Christie's chart topper was a much bigger hit abroad. Get on their good side by mentioning Rockabilly musician Buddy Knox. He was born in Happy and is their proudest export.
Happy got its name in the 19th century from nearby Happy Draw, a well-known watercourse so named when a group of thirsty cowboys were ecstatic to discover it. Apparently they stumbled upon this watering hole during a cattle drive through the rugged and mostly barren Texas Panhandle plains. A town, of sorts, grew up – a smattering of shops, a bank, five churches, all in unremarkable buildings around the one main street.
There's nowhere to stay, and only one restaurant, My Happy Place, whose future seems uncertain. It's pretty much as you'd expect a small, rural Texan town to be, with wide open spaces in every direction, stacked bales of hay, pick-up trucks, the occasional tumbleweed dancing in the distance over dry, dusty plains. Arriving, you are welcomed with signs such as Happy Grain, Happy Bank, Happy City Hall, Happy High School and Happy Game Room. If you're there on the third Friday or Saturday of the month, you can pick up memorabilia at The Grand in Happy, a former cinema. There's even a Happy Cemetery – normally a contradiction in terms, though on this occasion it is impossible not to smile. It's hard not to wonder if there is something in the name. Are the people in Happy happier than the rest of us?
The town is overflowing with friendliness and the kind of charm you only get in the American South. There is also pride and community spirit amongst the tiny population. At one stage, it was a farming and agricultural hub with a population of, ooh, 676. But since the 1950s, drilling of wells led to a diminishing water supply, shrinking farmable land, and to the already diminutive population dropping by 10% a year since 2010.
This doesn't seem to dampen the spirits of the people who call Happy home. One resident said, "Despite our problems, I'd rather live in Happy any day than Boring (Oregon), Tightwad (Missouri) or No Name (Colorado), though I've always been tempted by Sweet Lips, Tennessee."
Happy lives by the tagline, The Town Without A Frown, and this is perhaps the best lesson we can learn from this place that seems so happy with what it has.
