Smile!

So, I walked in to school today, laden with laptop, backpack, lunchbox, phone (so I could do the Corona protocol before entering the building, of course)…I was wearing my fashionable Frettoloso mask and my sunglasses, and I smiled at a colleague as I walked by. It occurred to me that there was no way for her to KNOW that I was smiling. She couldn’t see my eyes or my face…for all she knew I was mean-mugging her.

So, it made me curious. I looked it up…there is an actual sign in ASL for “smile”…it involves putting both index fingers together at your bottom lip and drawing them apart and upwards toward the corner of your mouth. I can’t do that with my hands full, of course, but I feel compelled to make sure people know I am smiling at them and not glowering. Usually people can tell from my eyes…but who looks at eyes anymore? We tend to cringe away from potential contact. Maybe there is something about posture that can help convey the warmth of a smile. I don’t know…maybe a lifting from the heart, and straightening of spine…a way for the energy of the smile to not be trapped behind the ever-present mask.

Anyway…I am going to think about deliberate ways that I can share the Sunshine that is my Smile while still being smart about distance, masks, this whole ‘Rona thing.

I am smiling at you right now.