The Smile

My son can really light up a park with his smile. One flash of that boyish grin and he’s got you. You might be quite comfortable in your perpetual state of adult ennui; you might even cherishit. It’s no match, however, for the power of the smile.  Once exposed you’ll feel it slowly overtaking you, turing bad thoughts into happy notions. You might even start hearing Israel Kamakawiwo’ole sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow in your head–you know, the song from that eToys commercials of the late 90s.

You’ll probably become hooked on the smile but don’t be alarmed. It’s not dangerous. It’s just that he doesn’t actually show it frequently. Most days he’s quite serious so your need for the smile will lead you to do many regrettable things in the hopes you might elicit one. You’ll tell and sit through an awful lot of bad knock-knock jokes. Fart jokes work really well but better still you might let an actual toot go and then loudly and indignantly blame it on his mother. That works every time. Sometimes though, you’ll get special ones, unexpected ones like when you agree to go bug-hunting for a few minutes in the back yard or when you hoist him up for his very first look at the moon through a telescope. Those smiles will change you forever and make you wonder how you ever got along without them.