We all have these fleeting moments when we find ourselves, however briefly, purely happy. Just as it dawns, you have a few seconds to think to yourself “I am happy. Nothing else” and then it is gone again.

Nothing in particular brings it on, I find. Why we suddenly feel elated or simply perfectly content I do not know. Nor do I know why the feeling doesn’t last more than a moment. But that is the way it seems to be. For me at least.

Just now I had one of those moments. Number Two and Number Three are conked out beside me in the bed. Flicking through my photos on my phone, I hadn’t noticed that they had dozed off.

Looking at their serene faces and their hands entwined, listening to their calm breaths alternating, taking turns as they rarely do when awake, I thought how lucky I am. How lucky we are as a family to have them, cheeky and boisterous though they may be.

Perhaps the feeling was brought on by the holiday snaps I was browsing on the phone. Smiling faces look out at me – Number One always with an animal of some kind,  Number Two busy on the beach and in the garden, Number Three grinning widely but always with his eyes tightly shut, his “smile for the photo” face.

Whatever else may be going on in the world in this awfully unsettling year, it hasn’t kept us from being happy.

I’m happy about that.