Smiling is Elf’s favorite and apparently I don’t do it. I must walk around with a scowl or frown because on more than one occasion, I’m reminded to smile by strangers. I can think of three examples from the past couple months. [And there’s more where they come from.]
Example the first. Working the Lutefisk dinner at First Lutheran in Blooming a few months ago. I guess I wasn’t smiling or looking at all like I was enjoying myself because a fellow worker – who I did not know – came up to me and told me, “It’s okay to smile.”
Example the second. Fall Theological Conference. I meet a pastor for the first time. We’re in the same dinner group and then at the same hotel room party that follows. [Hotel room party. That makes pastors sound cool.] He honestly tells me that he found me intimidating when we first met. You know. I could stand to smile.
Example the third. I went to St.Paul tonight for a date with my stylist. [He rejected my hair proposal and I’m not sure I like the fall back plan. Haircut approval pending.] I arrived on Grand Ave. early enough to walk down a few blocks to Cafe Latte for dinner. [$9.58 spent out of my $50 January fun money but their chicken caesar pasta salad is always worth it.] As I walked down the street, a man passed me in the opposite direction and said, “Smile!” as he walked by. [It worked. I did grin.] And for someone to take the effort to say that to someone they don’t know – to someone whom they don’t know what the reaction will be – is weird. Is there something about my non-smiling intimidation that oddly makes me approachable? I’m confused.
I guess I need to pay more attention to my facial features and the emotions they convey. [This isn’t really news. I’ve always said, while pointing to my face, “I don’t control this.”] I guess I need to smile more. Feel free to remind me. Apparently I easily forget.
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