Smiles Are Everywhere

How can you be pissed off for getting woken-up in the middle of the night if what woke you was a smiley face? A smile arriving via text at 2 am PST is a curious thing. Especially because you are heart racing and bleary eyed expecting a Hari-Kari announcement of doom, it takes a few eye-rubbing moments to see it.

My daughter and I have been texting smiley faces to each other for a couple of years now. It started over breakfast at IHOP one morning on the way to the airport. She was going back home to Oregon from visiting us in California. As we sat chatting, passing time before the rest of the drive to the airport we both noticed the remnants left on both of our plates somewhat resembled smiley faces. We laughed and embellished them a little more before we took pictures. After that, every time one of us has seen a “natural” smiley face we take pics and text them from wherever we are.

Over the months and years we have sent dozens and dozens and they have all been things like the way the rain left a wet patch on the sidewalk to how something in a grocery store is packaged; if it makes an obvious (obvious to us) smiley face we take pics and send them to one another. One time my daughter sent me a picture from a Sweet Tomatoes salad bar in Oregon. It was a close-up of the stack of cucumber slices. At first I had no idea why she was sending me a picture of cucumbers, but I have learned to “look again” and sure enough, every little cucumber slice looked like a smiley face by how they were cut and the seeds were exposed. They were like cute little Cupie cucumber faces. I still have that one on my phone.

I was at a Dollar Store with my sis-in-law once and as I was walking down the aisle with hair accessories I stopped and busted up laughing. My sis turned to see me taking a picture of two thick pony tail holders and a headband that were connected to a cardboard backing. They made an absolutely perfect smiley face! Of course my sis thought I was nuts, but my daughter got the pic a few seconds later and laughed her ass off. She knew.

At 2 AM this morning my phone went off. It rarely goes off in the middle of the nights these days (which is a good thing), but when it does of course I immediately think something is wrong somewhere. This morning, nothing was wrong. I was reassured and comforted by a smiley.

This is a silly little thing, but it makes me (and my daughter smile). It’s something that only she and I share together so in a way it’s our not-so-secret secret.

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