You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile
Hello.
Hi.
A smile.
It was the smile that did it, ten years ago today. MTM claims otherwise, that I looked back with naked longing on my face upon exiting the restaurant where I saw him for the first time. That I sent him a message to find me again, coded into one scant look back.
Smiling wasn’t something I’d done much of in the years leading up to that scorching July afternoon. It’s hard to smile when your heart is gone, an empty cavity where it used to beat. Used to care. Used to feel. Used to love. It’s hard not to wallow.
I wallowed.
For too long.
I wasn’t really sure what I was doing when I started dating, because I never really knew how to date in the first place. Married too young. Leaping into another relationship too soon. Unsure where to even go to meet an eligible male. Running headlong into numerous ineligible ones. Learning how to be alone.
July 30, 2002 found me meeting another ineligible one. Plowing my way through my sandwich because he was late. Or standing me up. In a flash of blue, a man said hello to me, and I smiled and said hi.
In spite of everything – my still broken heart, my seething resentment at All Men, my mortal fear of ever again loving someone enough to endure losing him – in spite of all of it – I smiled. A smile that sloughed off the last vestiges of my heartache, that watered the last kernel of hope that sputtered where my heart used to be, that made me think maybe there was something in there besides a vacancy, a void, a nothing.
It was the smile that gave the Love of my Life to me.
Wonderful, Andra. There was a little sniffle over here.
I remember those smiles.
That’s absolutely lovely! What a special moment to be indelibly marked on your memory forever. Happy Meeting Anniversary!
He thought you were drinking a Schlitz.
Happy Anniversary.
I can’t love this short, but all too sweet, snapshot of the event enough. It is perfect in the concise manner it gives the details which cannot quite explain the mystery of what happened.
That’s lovely. And, um, did you do that thing with the suckers or did the restaurant?
Very sweet. Eww. But the picture is gross. Makes me shudder. You have succeeded in going beyond me with that pic!!
Fate works in magical ways. So do smiles.
I just <3 love stories.
Sept. 20, 2003. Just a year and (almost) a month later and cupid was flying my way.
*Sigh* Love this – it truly gives me hope that there really is such a thing as continually love. There are even a few couples on here that resemble the continual love promise. Sweet.
You made me remember a smile across a crowded room (strains of Some Enchanted Evening?) and the sure knowledge that THAT man was going to wipe away my sadness forever. Thanks for the memories.
This is so lovely Andra, it made me smile. I love believing that broken hearts can heal.
Modern day proof that Annie and the orphans were wise, wise girls.
I remember hearing about that smile and its follow-up. We were going to visit Julie O’ and a brand new Molly in the hospital. So funny to think about those first stirrings and what the led to.
My first marriage ended in a horrible disaster. I guess that was close to 25 years ago or longer. I still remember the pain. It is a horrible thing to go through and I am so sorry that you and I have that in common. Katy and I met at First Baptist Church in Houston Texas many moons ago. I just wanted to be friends. Katy stole my heart and refuses to give it back. Looking back I am so glad that she did. Now I don’t want my heart back. It is in excellent hands now.
Time and love is an excellent healer. I am glad that Katy was patient with me and looked past the wreck that I was back then.
A sweet story, Andra, with a happy ending. I’ll be humming this for the rest of the day.
Love at first smile . . . wonderful!
Just a simple smile . . . It can change someone’s world!
A simple mannerism, but so complex One can smile a thousand ways and say a thousand things. But it’s telling enough to inspire love at first sight.
So glad the two of you found each other, Andra.
Oh, I love this, Andra! I SO love this! I know what that kind of love feels like. I thank God for it every day. So happy you and MTM have it, as well.
Hugs,
Kathy
I have to say that it’s hard for me to even think of you with prolonged sadness, Andra. You have so much life in you, and to hear you tell it, much of that inner light is reflected off the brightness of the shared love between you and your MTM! What a wonderful gift to each other. I loved this post…it makes me happy! Debra
Oh, how lovely. Seriously. I cannot imagine you that hopeless, you sparkle so; cheers to love and smiles!
Happy first meeting anniversary!! (Late) I’m returning from Chattanooga and catching up on my blogs.
Bloody Hell Andra – I’m welling up!