Smile! People say that all the time. Here’s what I think they mean. It takes less energy to smile than to frown. Did you know that? Smiles are free. We can share them anytime, anywhere. We can toss them out like candy.  As a rule, mine stays well oiled but there are days when I don’t use it as much. For those of you who write fiction our words are meant to create emotion. It does our heart good to know we’ve made someone smile, laugh, cry or contemplate. This means we’ve drawn them in.

With that said, there’s an old man who walks around these parts. His smile has never been on. I made it my mission to flip the smile switch.  For two weeks whenever I passed, I’d smile and wave. Smile and wave. Smile and wave. Half the time he wouldn’t even peer at me, and when he did, I got the, “what the heck is your problem frown.”

I’m not one to give up, though.

In another week a miracle happened. Out of the blue he up and grinned at me. His smile looked like the sun.  Not only that but he waved too! And continued to do so whenever he saw me. The moral here is to never give up.  Share what you have and expect the best.  When you can get a crabby old man to smile life is sweet indeed.

Keep smiling,

Dorraine