Smile Time: Tuesday's Reflection

A dinosaur visited our house. His name is Pete the Dinosaur, and he thought the kids on our block might enjoy greeting a dinosaur. 

















Our twelve year old grandson asked for an inflatable dinosaur costume for his birthday a year ago. Who knows why, but isn't now  the right time to parade the neighborhood wearing it or to stand on a street corner and wave at passing cars? Don't we all need a reason to chuckle? 

What has made you laugh recently? Or at least smile?
What have you seen that has brightened your day? 

A corny joke?














A bare bush decorated with brightly 
colored yarn balls?












Or does your spirit lift, as mine does, whenever I walk into our house and see the fluffiest pink hydrangea ever eager to greet me? 

These moments of pleasure make me smile, not just because they are sweet or amusing, but because someone has made the effort to lighten the heavy load we are all carrying right now. 

Pete didn't have to drag his dinosaur costume over to our house, but he knew in his big and silly heart that seeing a dinosaur strutting down the sidewalk would be a funny and memorable sight. Whoever spent hours and hours not only making those yarn balls but also tying them to the bush imagined the smiles their efforts would produce. And the loving friends who sent me the hydrangea knew I would feel their hugs over and over again. 

How good it is to smile.
How good it is to make someone else smile.

On my walk today I plan to stroll by the house where a new joke is posted every couple of days. No matter how corny it might be, I know I will smile. 

An Invitation
What has made you smile recently? How have you made someone else smile? I would love to know.