vespachica | Smile

At the request of

therealljidol, this week's subject is: smile!

I have thought of different approaches to this topic over the past few days. I thought, at first, I should write about my kids' smiles. Perhaps I could wax nostalgic on their first smiles. Nah... lots of people will write about that. I then thought about what makes me smile and how I could go on and on about that. Again, I'm sure that'll be a subject for many people. In the end, I arrived at what fills my heart the most: how I make other people smile.

Making others smile is one of my life's goals, I'm certain of it. If someone at work is down I do my best to make them grin like a fool just by talking to them. If that doesn't work, perhaps sending them a good joke via email will do the trick. Eventually, I find most people will warm up and at least give me a wan smile. That's good enough if they're really down. Don't mistake this for clowning or insensitivity. I just want to cheer them up a bit. And I definitely try to empathize with people and lend an ear. In fact, I'm sure my employer would say that I lend too many ears and listen/talk with too many people during the workday!

The other thing that I love to do to make people smile is cook. Most of the cooking I do is not necessarily for self-satisfaction but to see the expressions on people's faces. The reward I reap from cooking is hearing and seeing satisfaction from others. This is fairly narcissistic, I suppose, because I feel such a great sense of pride whenever someone really loves what I have whipped up in the kitchen. If someone moans in ecstasy that makes it even better!!

I love seeing smiles on people's faces. The only step I haven't taken is being someone who is so open with strangers that I can make them smile as well. Perhaps I should try!