To Give a Smile
If a smile is yours to give, give it with uninhibited joy. Chances are it will come back to you like a boomerang.
From the corner of my eye, I thought I recognized a distinctive upturned almond shape to his eye as he passed by. I glanced toward the stranger’s retreating form, hoping he would turn around, but he turned the corner instead. After silently wishing him well, my thoughts wandered back to my grocery list. My eyes met the upturned almond shaped eyes of my precious littlest child. She was seated in the shopping cart, delivering radiant smiles to fellow shoppers and basking in the reflected joy upon the boomerang of their return. We pushed on through several more aisles, smiling to strangers, filling our cart, and chattering our brand of silly nonsense to each other. “Stay right here”, I said as I pushed the cart and its passenger to the side and walked the few steps across the aisle to grab a bag of rice. As I turned back to the cart, there he was; the stranger, coming my way. Yes, he definitely had Down syndrome, his face bearing the familiar physical characteristics so dearly, so serenely, so very jovially. We locked eyes and I gave him a huge grin. His bright countenance flared brighter and beamed out both in his wide smile and through his promptly outstretched arms, extended in a wordless request for a hug. We embraced, and my surprised and delighted brain could only put together these words: “thank you, it’s so nice to meet you”, and they spilled from my lips, earnestly. He shined his mega-watt, all encompassing smile upon me and went without speaking back the way he came. He was no longer a stranger, but now a friend. His aura still enveloped me as I watched his retreating form for the second time. Did he come down this aisle just to hug me? I stepped back across the aisle to my little daughter; her beautiful face—elegantly marked by Down syndrome—turned toward me; her distinctive almond shaped eyes crinkled at their upturned corners as she gave me her biggest grin. I grinned back at her, kissed her head, and said the silly greeting she likes. My heart overflowed with gladness as I tossed the rice into the cart. As we finished our shopping, I kept a sharp look out, but I never saw my new friend again. It was as if he had been an angel sent to me for the purpose of that one hug, that one moment of gratitude. Like a seedling encountering sunshine after rain; my misty hopes enkindled into a high elation of bliss. Life is good.
One of my older kids asked me recently how I thought one makes a difference in this great big world. I floundered for a moment, flabbergasted at the enormity of the question. Then I recalled this poem that is a daily part of my littlest one’s curriculum:1
A Child’s Prayer
Margaret Betham-Edwards
God, make my life a little light
Within the world to glow;
A little flame that burneth bright
Wherever I may go.
God, make my life a little flower
That giveth joy to all,
Content to bloom in native bower,
Although the place be small.
God, make my life a little song
That comforteth the sad,
That helpeth others to be strong
And makes the singer glad
God, make my life a little staff
Whereon the weak may rest,
And so what strength and health I have
May serve my neighbors best.
God, make my life a little hymn
Of tenderness and praise;
Of faith, that never waxeth dim,
In all His wondrous ways.
Doesn’t this poem bring to mind my friend from the grocery store? How his light did shine! How he made a difference to me, in my life, in just a single moment! This kind of love expands and spreads. Giving it away only increases it without diminishing its source. “I think we must start small”, I told my child after reading the poem aloud. I continued, long-windedly, but the gist of it was this: we can act out this poem in our everyday lives for the people around us, and start a chain reaction of kindness and love. And if it doesn’t eventually change the whole world, it might change the world for just one person and that in itself is a worthy pursuit and a thing of great beauty and merit.
If you replace the word “life” with “art” in the above poem, that would pretty much sum up what I want to achieve with my art. So, in that light, I’d like to gift you a PDF version of today’s sketches:
If you’d like to view more of my art, here’s the link to my Etsy:
And finally, a few paintings and drawings I made since the last time I sent a letter, most of which I posted to notes, so you may have already seen them (Sadly, I have not had much opportunity to paint, though I have a tray of paint taking up valuable space in my refrigerator that calls to me every time I open it):
Some of those above are products of our weekly art classes, which are going extremely well and remain the high point of our school week along with our classical architecture class. We started a chapter on neo-classical architecture today which was quite exciting. Thank you all so much for being here, it is such a joy to share this space and my art with you. Have a beautiful weekend, with many heartfelt smiles.
Jenn
"A Child's Prayer" Poetry.com.STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 24 Jan. 2025. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/103361/a-child's-prayer>.
Precious in every way, Jenn. Thank you for sharing these moments of your life with me and all of us here. And your art. 💖
Your art, like your words, emanates joy, vibrancy. A celebration of here and now. And I know that when I open your posts my day will get that little bit better ! Thank you for sharing your work as always. A feelgood boomerang indeed :)