Just a smile

It's around this time of year, at least for me, you start to realize what is happening, like REALLY happening in your life. I'm going to miss the days of sitting outside watching the twins play and bask in the summer rays. I've also realized how freaking old they are getting and how amazingly scary that is for me. No one warned me how scared I would be for them to grow into a world I'm not sure is good enough for them. Is that terrible I think so highly of them that I don't want them to have to worry about the real life struggle? So be it. We are all products of our own creations though. I see them try to express themselves to strangers, to openly welcome someone they have never seen in their life. I also, in turn, get to see them get rejected, ignored and in a way forgotten. As much as I would love to slap some in the face with a fish, I don't blame them all. I don't run away with my child thinking what a terrible person wouldn't say hello to such a beautiful little girl. I do however pay attention to where it comes from. I see a child just walk away as they ask to play, I then see this child's parents turn away when they are greeted. As though this will void what just happened, if I don't look at you or see you, you didn't make an effort to be in my world. 

What has caused so many of us to try and avoid human contact? What has caused people to judge those they have never met? Is the effort too much. Is it something that is just not viable at that point in your life. I remember walking down the roads as a young kid and how open neighbors were. I knew people blocks away that I simply knew from walking by their house daily. Maybe I was raised in a different world. Or are my parents to blame for my expectations of people? It's not a struggle when the end effort causes a smile. Those little relationships we make in our lives will in a way make who we are. It's those little none obligatory relationships that you will always look back on and think about how wonderful it felt to create and nourish it. 

For example in our old home we made an effort to reach out to our mail lady. We would watch her day in and day out walk in the heat and the cold from house to house. She didn't seem unhappy, she seemed determined. One day shortly after we got Auzzie Bear we were walking him up to a park near our home. She was on her normal route headed our way. She didn't say anything she simply smiled and bent down to give Auzzie a treat. I know you'll think, "Well she probably gives it to all dogs she sees." Although this could be very possible, I had never seen her do so with the many dogs along our street. It became part of a routine, Auzzie began to see her and get so excited just as she would. Like I said, not much was said between us, but there were the Hellos' and small gestures of her leaving treats in our mail box when she didn't catch us. She would put our mail out of the snow and rain as our box wasn't the greatest. She even if we had a larger box she didn't want to leave on the porch would come back after her route to give it to us in hopes of catching us. We would leave cookies or cards for holidays. It wasn't much, and a lot wasn't needed. It was just a smile. A simple smile that made both our days. I'll never forget the day we got a new mailman but I'll also never forget how wonderful it was to know that there was someone out there still willing to give a little. 

These are the little things I want to teach my kids to thrive on, not saying the big things aren't wonderful too. I'm just saying, why can't we just take those 2 seconds to pass on a hello, a wave, a smile. It's not hard, it's not going to cause your life to crumble. I hope despite the head turns and walk aways they continue to realize what they are trying to accomplish is what everyone should be trying to accomplish. Human interaction at it's finest. We all need it, we all deserve it. Its little children that show us these silly little things that I fear we are all slowly forgetting.