It’s All In The Smile

I don’t know what you are talking about

My daughter started playing with Minecraft again, and found out our neighbor was also on it, which led them to start talking again. The neighbor kids and our kids have grown up together and we literally had the “talk with the neighbor” over the fence conversations a lot. We even continplated making a gate that led to each other’s back yards. My adventursome hubby even said he would do a zipline from roof to roof, but then a few years back the neighbor decided to build a bigger fence around his property and that ended the over the fence converstations. Sadly as well, as the kids grew, interests went different ways and so they stopped talking with each other. Then Mincraft came into the picture and all of a sudden the conversations picked up, at least with my daughter and my neighbor’s son. The more they talked, the more it became apparent that there was the start of a crush going on.

I am lucky enough that my daughter talks to me and shares her life. So when she admitted that she had a small crush, I started to smile. Now in my mind it was your normal everyday smile, but to her it was a smile that said “ohhhhhh how cute” and “I am so excited to hear you are talking to him”. After this smile would appear on my face she would turn turnup red and start a giggle fit like you wouldn’t believe. I started to realize when I was doing this smile so that I could pull it out occationally at get the giggle fest started all over again.

My middle daughter has another type of smile, it’s the kind that says “I’m innocent, but not really”. Usually this smile comes out when she has created something in her room. She is at the stage where she is seeing who she is, and where she fits in in the world. She is also at the stage where testing her boundaries is a huge part of her everyday life. First and foremost, that girl could hear a flea fart. We whisper her name in our back bedroom and she comes flying out of her room which is in the front of the house. Most of the time Leah’s smile is just that, a smile, when she chooses to bless us with one. Normally though, we see her smile when she is doing something that resembles the WWF ring with her brother, and sometimes her dad. I don’t think she even knows she has given us the elusive smile but it is there in between the laughter and the headlocks.

Then there is my youngest, the smiles that he tends to give us are innocent enough, but sometimes can mean things like “I’m being nice, can I buy this?” or “I know it’s time for bed but I just wanted to snuggle, and giggle a little with you”. He knows he has mastered the smile, but thankfully I get the smile that comes from when I come home from work and it lights up his face and comes with a hug. I will always welcome those. Smiles that light up the room are the best smiles ever! I am sure you have met people over the years that can change the whole atmostphere of a gathering by smiling and being genuine.

This world more than ever needs a smile. Everyone has something going on that they may not talk about. I know we are not all in the same boat. Heck some of our boats are litte while others are big yaughts. We are all trying to get to shore. We are all fighting the storms that rage around us. So with this, since we don’t know what other people are going through, give a little smile to someone. Heck if you know the person give a hug. I wrote about my friend Mary and her son David in my blog “Just Keep Waiting” who gave the best hugs ever! They could squeeze the sad from you. Smiles can be soft, they can be mischievious, they could be bright, and even just friendly. It wil cost you absolutely nothing. If anything you might just get one back, and realize that you needed one as much as the person you gave yours too. Until next time:

Use your smile to change the world, don’t let the world change your smile

Chinese proverb