Why I Smiled

I didn't smile today because I felt so wonderful, because truth be told, I didn't feel well at all.  This cold--or whatever it is--has lingered far longer than I wanted it to or thought it would; and just when I was starting to feel like maybe I had this thing mostly licked, it circled around and came back for round two, this time putting pressure on my left ear and scaring me with the thought of an ear infection (which hasn't developed quite yet...hopefully it won't).

Because I didn't feel well, I decided to adopt the philosophy of "if you don't feel well, at least look nice," so I dressed up a little more than I would on an ordinary Saturday.  But even my khaki skirt, white shirt, and pink sweater didn't exactly put a smile on my face.

I didn't smile because of all the household projects I got done because in reality, all I did was the bare minimum to keep my household going.  We wore clean clothes, we ate, we hugged, and that was about it.

What did make me smile, however, was the unexpected (and completely unintended, from Tobin's point of view) humor that lightened my spirits when he innocently wondered, as we were driving together to take David to gymnastics, how he would ever find a wife.  "Do you just go up to people and ask them, 'Are you married?', 'Are you married?', 'Are you married?'" he wanted to know.  :)  I stifled my laughter as I explained that no, that wasn't exactly how the process worked.  :)

I also smiled a few minutes later when David said, "I wish Moriah wasn't in our family."  He paused, then added what I suspected was coming, "Because then I could marry her!"  :)  He went on to extol some of her virtues and say how wonderful she is.  "Yeah," I agreed, "She's pretty special."  "She's pretty PRETTY!" was his quick retort.  And then he smiled over at me and said, "And so are you."  How could I not smile at that?  :)

The evening brought another smile to my face when Jeff treated us to some frozen yogurt at Sweet Bee.  The boys had finished their run-1000-laps-around-the-house chart, and this was the night to collect their long-anticipated prize.  If my memory is correct, the last time we were there together as a family was the night before Moriah was born.  As my gaze drifted around the circle of my family tonight, my heart rejoiced in the indescribable blessing of each one.

And I smiled.