Dear Ellie:

While we were out shopping the other day a nice lady approached us in the parking lot and asked if she could get a closer look at you then went on to say how pretty you were. She ended our conversation by telling me that you made her smile. A simple enough statement but something in the tone of her voice told me it was much more powerful. It got me to thinking in a world where adults are always trying to be super man or super woman to someone, aka moving way to fast to even enjoy that someone, we can often forget about our biggest super power…the power to bring joy to someone’s life even if only for a moment. In my late teens/early twenties people would always tell me to smile or ask why I looked so angry and honestly my baby I was hardly ever angry about anything (except that people kept telling me to smile). In most cases it was a natural look I had that said “please don’t bother me” or “do I know you”, which can actually be helpful when you’re just trying to walk to the grocery store from your dorm room without some guy thinking its his right to occupy your time with rude comments. So I decided to keep my “don’t bother me” look and if someone really irritated me I would respond to the constant question about why don’t you smile with a straight faced “for what” or a snippier “there’s nothing to smile about right now”. Years later though I realize there is always something to smile for and you do it for yourself or because it could possibly make someone else’s day. It does you no good to let the guy’s with the rude comments or the individuals who take delight in your missing smile convince you to withhold your smile from the world. There will be days when you really don’t feel like smiling, you may be tired, heartbroken, sad, or angry, but its at those times my baby that you truly learn to smile. And its not about being fake its about tapping into the happiness that you should always carry with you. Don’t ever let the world convince you that EVERYTHING is bad. No matter if your day, week, month, or year has brought you nothing but dark clouds as surely as you are breathing you are still blessed and still have a reason to be here. So smile because you remember how Harvey Warvey comes to wake you up in the morning, or how your cousins love to hug you, smile because your shirt is your favorite color…whatever your reason just smile because smiles are contagious and you never know who needs to catch it.

Love You Always,

Mommy

P.S. To the girl who has traded her smile for a brave face to show the world its ok to let go for a second. I promise you that no one will think you are soft because you found joy in the moment (and honestly if they do they are probably wishing they had found that same joy first). Life is meant to be enjoyed and you have to define how you do that for yourself so go ahead smile at the cute baby you saw or the nice old lady crossing the street it could change the world for either of them…and you.