smile, Mia

There’s something about a real genuine smile from someone that I just love…and it’s even better if I get a real hearty laugh out of ’em as well.

I think a person’s laugh is more memorable than their face to me–especially the people that I treasure most.   My Dad’s laugh is super hearty, my mom’s laugh is full of amusement, my big brother doesn’t make much of a sound other than short gasps when he’s laughing super hard, and my little brother has a laugh I can’t really explain but I’d know it blindfolded.

When I think about my epic adventures in Europe, I think about cracking up with my two travel buddies (most likely about something silly we did), as much as I think about the amazing sights we saw. When I think about the old Shell Shack, I think about laughing like crazy from funny shanagans that were bound to happen at one of our many BBQ’s, just as much as I think about that amazing view from the living room window.  When I consider some of the best bible study groups I’ve been in,  I treasure when we got to the point where we could laugh together as much as we’d pray together. When I tell an embarrassing story about myself, it’s fully worth re-living the embarrassment just to see my friends laugh. When I’m getting to know someone new, I love it when we get past the awkward/formal phase and can finally let out a real genuine laugh.

Now I’ve never really considered just how much I value all those smiles and laughter until last weekend when I so, SOOOO desperately wanted my new niece to smile at me!  As a six week old baby, I guess this isn’t necessarily a given.  And when she finally did (though it took some coaxing from her Dad), I pretty much melted.  I was smiling back and of course, laughing–not at her, but with her.  We weren’t even laughing at anything in particular, and I still loved it!  And now, that’s the part of Mia Grace that I remember most!