Just Smile

Today my 5 year old daughter selected “101 Camp Songs” to listen to.  One of the songs spoke of smiling.  Of course, since she is profoundly interested in the human body right now, she needed to know how many muscles were required to smile (I told her 17 but answers seem to range from 11 to 17 to 26 to 43).

Anyway, I couldn’t help but think to myself that, since smiling is such a simple act of happiness – and it seems to be contagious – why can’t we do it more often if for no other reason than to bring happiness to someone else?

What makes me the happiest is watching my children’s faces when they smile.  I have a picture of my daughter, taken when she was 3 1/2, which I keep on my desk.  In this picture she has the most beautiful, natural smile, of any of the thousands (a bit over 5,300 to be exact) of pictures we have taken over the past 5 1/2 years.  This perfectly happy, unrehearsed smile that is definitely shown in all parts of her face, makes me happy every time I look at it.

I hope that, at some point each day, each of my children has at least one of these truly happy moments.

 

A bake sale? Memorable? For me as a child, at least, yes.

Now that I am a Mother and have many opportunities to volunteer my time  to provide delightful morsels for bake sales and class parties, I find myself “too busy” to take the time to create something memorable.

Don’t get me wrong – I love to bake.  Any excuse to bake is great with me but I don’t get too elaborate with the finishing touches.

During my attendance at Johnson Elementary in Grand Prairie, Texas, I remember one bake sale in vivid detail.  Sorry, Mom, I can’t remember if you provided baked goods that day or not (I am quite sure you did, though) but I do remember that you provided me with a few quarters so that I could buy a treat after school that day.   To this child all of the tables filled with cupcakes, cookies, and brownies seemed to stretch forever.  So many choices!

I settled on a yellow cupcake with white icing and the most intriguing decoration I had ever seen – little silver balls.   After paying for my purchase, I cradled the cupcake carefully in my hands until I was outside and on my walk home.  I remember looking at the balls from every angle, seeing how the bright Texas sunlight reflected on each one.

Funny, I remember their texture in my mouth but I don’t remember how the cupcake tasted at all.

For the next bake sale or class party, I need to remember how sometimes presentation is everything and think about how my cupcake or cookie will look through the eyes of a child.

By the way, those fascinating little balls are called Silver Dragees.

 

Is it really so hard to do?

This post was originally included in my first post on smiling but I thought it best to separate the two.

Have you noticed that there is a distressing shortage of “Please”,  “Thank You”, and “You’re Welcome” being used in conversation?  Whenever I mention this to someone, the usual response is “they just weren’t raised that way.”  Hmpt! I say.

Besides being an act of politeness, these words and phrases are not difficult to speak, they only take a second (literally) and they are free (if money is an issue).

Even my children were able to “say” Please and Thank You using sign language – when they were 9 months old.  Two different children, one a girl and one a boy, born 33 months apart so, no, it is not a gender issue.  I would think that it is far more difficult to use sign language to get the message across than it would be for someone to simply say these words.

Yet, it seems a difficult task for adults to utter these words.  And it is not as if these people had never heard of these expressions.  I am sure that they hear them several times a day – either directed to them or overheard in conversation.  When spoken to them, do they just not appreciate these words?

As if in a fog, I remember that, during the 21 hour labor with my daughter (when the epidural did not have the intended pain-reducing effect and I had endured the “mythical” back labor the entire time), I was polite and courteous to the staff.  I remember saying Please, Thank You, Yes Ma’am, No Ma’am, etc.  Just to confirm this, I asked my mother just last month, if I did remember this correctly and am very happy to say that – yes, even a woman in labor can utter these everyday courtesies that some people cannot do even on a good day.

No, you shouldn’t do something for someone else just to receive a “Thank You” in return but everyone should give – and receive – common courtesies.  It really isn’t that difficult.

I am thankful that I was “raised” to be polite and it gladdens my heart to hear my children (5 and 3) freely say “Please”, “Thank You” and “You’re Welcome” without any prompting from myself or my husband.