Really? Keep on, keepin’ on?

About that smile….

You know, the one that stayed with me for a million years (give or take a few.)

Whoa, whoa, whoa! I’m getting way ahead of myself. When younger, much younger, I was just chock full of judgments about the physical appearance of others. I had my own narrow (exceedingly narrow) vein of what I considered attractive. (Seriously wincing when recalling this.)

Returning to that smile. In my early 20s, I worked for a research-based institution in my college town. Several floors above me, there was an older woman who I found manifestly unattractive. To my younger eyes, the woman appeared to be what I’d call ugly. (Such a relief to be young only once. You know?)

My judgments about her appearance, notwithstanding, I noticed this woman was always, always, smiling. I mean, always. In the building elevator, passing through my part of the building, there she was, smiling. As a walker-every-place-I-went in those days, her home was about a block from my then-apartment. If I passed her house and she was outside, guess what? You got it in one! She was smiling.

As time passed, I no longer noticed the reality of her appearance. Only the smile. An incandescent one. I actually began looking forward to seeing her, probably, unconsciously knowing I’d feel uplifted by that smile. (Talk about a cheap high in the vibrant age of psychedelics!) Eons on down my life’s well-traveled road, this still-recalled memory continues to light me up.

At this juncture, I no longer recollect exactly what this “unattractive” (to me) woman looked like. All I can remember is basking in her smile, a smile directed at the world, not specifically me. But I was part of that world and here I am, a million years later, still continuing to feel uplifted. Tiny bits of our goodness just keep right on, keepin’ on….don’t they?