No Sleep

Let’s face it, some days it’s not easy to smile. I didn’t sleep well last night – too many heavy things on my mind. The frustrating part of the heavy things at night is that in the light of day they are, well, light, and the fact that I haven’t slept is way too heavy!

It would have been easier to roll over and just go back to sleep, but I drug myself out into the gray, cloudy, wet morning and walked for a half hour. It felt good, my spirits were beginning to lift, and I was breathing and enjoying the after-rain aroma of my neighborhood when an Alameda County sheriff deputy turned the corner ahead of me. I really try not to make eye contact with drivers while I’m walking, but I looked up as she went by and she gave me the biggest, warmest smile – it was unbelievable!

She has no idea that she made me feel so wonderful – she never will, but that’s the power of a smile. You may never realize how much someone needed your smile today – but that in itself is a spectacular reason to give them out liberally every day. You know what they say, “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.”

J