About that smile…
About that smile…
You know, the one that has stayed with me for a million years (give or take a few.)
Oh, wait, I need to out myself as someone who rashly judged people by their appearance in my younger years. (Ouch.) That would be me; flawed, occasionally frail of spirit, and living among the many other inhabitants of our foible-challenged existence. We’re not alone with our peccadilloes….just human.
Ah, but returning to THAT smile. In my very early 20s, I worked in a research-based institution. There was an older woman, several floors above me, who I found manifestly unattractive. To my younger eyes (I wince saying this now) she appeared to be what I would call ugly. My head still hangs in shame, remembering this assessment. (Is this not an excellent reason to be young only once?)
Judgments notwithstanding, I began to notice this woman was always smiling. Always. In the elevator, passing through my part of the building. And, as a walker-everyplace-I-went in those days, I realized her home was about a block from my then-apartment. So I would frequently pass her house and when she happened to be outside, gardening, guess what I noticed? You got it! Her smile. And just seeing her left me feeling warm inside, and yes, smiling, too. Really smiling….Damn, I had no idea those smiles were downright contagious! (Did you know that?)
I actually began looking forward to seeing her. I don’t think I realized how uplifting her smile was. And even now, as I write this, so many eons later, my lips are creeping upward, in remembrance of the warmth I felt whenever I saw her smile.
For the life of me, I can’t recall now what she really looked like. And, you know, it matters not. The incandescence of her smile over-wrote my then-judgments and continues to lift me up, even today, so many years later.