Simple Smiles…

This morning, as I was paying for my eye exam, I received a simple smile prompted by kind words from the assistant. It triggered a remembrance of a quote a friend and colleague, Shannon Dattilo, posted yesterday on Facebook. beecher quote

The quote became lodged in my head as I went about my errands. I found myself looking for the simple smiles caused by the common sparks of life.

Then, as I returned home, the quote was still in my head, so I decided to find out who said it. I found his name, but I knew nothing about him. In a nutshell, he was a distinguished preacher, founded the Plymouth church, active abolitionist, and was tried for adultery (acquitted and cleared of all charges).

Well, the whole reason I’m writing this post is to share the ease in finding simple smiles in your day by sharing those that have brightened mine in the span of only four hours.

The assistant at the Vision Center noticed my #teacheronbreak shirt and thanked me for being a teacher and the job that I do. I don’t ever remember meeting this kind lady prior, so her words brought a smile.
Then, Dr. Duerstock proclaimed that there were no signs of glaucoma or cataracts and that my eye pressures were….PERFECT! [When you’re as imperfect as me those perfect decrees almost make you squeal.]
Plus, even though Wal-Mart’s new layout is like a scavenger hunt, I found the folding table I wanted to purchase to use for Book Sales without wasting much time.
As I was getting ready to go to Dollar Tree, I looked through my wallet for the gift card my friend Mary gave me for my birthday. I didn’t find it, BUT…I found over $50 that I had stashed in a pocket of my wallet for my trip to WKU back in March. Whoop! Forgotten money that is found always brings a smile.
While in Dollar Tree, I was looking for a few items for a teacher gift, and I found a sign small for my classroom. If I accept it as a sentence in progress, I can deal with the missing capital & punctuation…I think.
Dropped off lunch to my favorite nephew and illustrator, Connor Stewart, and he remembered to bring “The Office” DVDs for me to enjoy this summer. His dad and he often are watching episodes when I pop by their house, so he offered to let me borrow the series’ set that his parents bought him for Christmas.
Arrived at Hanover library to drop off my finished books and pick up my two “holds”. As I approached the desk, the librarian-on-duty automatically walks back to the shelves to pull my books. Yep. the fact that I frequent the library and put books on hold so often that they know me by name gave me a proud smile.
Stopped by Pride Supermarket to grab a homegrown tomato for dinner (smile), and I also saw Danette while there. You don’t see your teacher-friends as often during the summer.
Ran by Jendy’s to grab lunch through the drive-thru and had to wait 10 minutes for pizza, but that assured me it was fresh out of the oven. And…the extra cheese actually looked and tasted like extra cheese.
Finally returned home and as I said something aloud (I have no recollection what since I live solo.) HillTopper came scampering out of wherever he had been resting. He didn’t come at a tired-stretching-walking-pace or a mad-dash-begging-for-food-sprint. It was a cute little scamper which shouted, “I’m so glad you’re home!”
Now, this list could go on and on…sharing little reasons to smile and have joy. But I’ll end it with the common thing of curiosity. If I hadn’t been curious as to who said the quote my friend shared yesterday…I never would’ve found all these other quotes that the internet credits as belonging to Henry Ward Beecher. I thought I’d share them with you at the end of today’s post.

See, smiles are everywhere in the simplest of observations and the practice of kind words of appreciation. Look for them and you’ll find them. Better yet…be the reason that someone else smiles. That will bring a smile to your face as well. Hmmm, maybe this rambling of a #teacheronbreak will bring you a little joy, too.

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