Every now and then you feel a little low, tired, your nose is running and you would rather be at home sipping tea but you are out and about doing what you normally do. Then someone who is feeling quite similar turns to you and smiles.  That’s all.  They just smile at you.

Their glossy eyes sparkle. You know they have a cold but still the sparkle of their eyes just adds to the smile.

Their eye lids are sort of droopy. You know that feeling when you are tired. Yet some how you take it as a sign of gentle calm.  You are set at ease.

That person smiles again this time adding, how ya doin’?  Suddenly you feel pretty good just because you’ve been noticed.

Someone saw you.  Someone asked how you were.

You don’t answer right away because you are a little stunned. You’ve just passed three or four people and they couldn’t lift their eyes up from the cell phone.  One person even bumps into you.

You come back to the moment and figure out that you’ve just been greeted by a very nice person.  Your day is now a little brighter.

She smiles at you again eager to hear your response.

I am fine you say returning the smile. How are you doing?

I am good she says, I’m good. She turns her mouth downward and nodding her head up and down as if to accentuate the exclamation.  You are lifted up.
Your day has been made.  An affirmation of wellbeing as come to you.

This is what I refer to as a treasure moment with Miss Melissa. Even when she is not feeling all that well she manages to turn out a smile and a welcoming greeting to the people who enter Southeast Center for Independent Living, where she has volunteered for sixteen years.

What she does there is quite extraordinary. To greet people who have issues that are alarming to them and defuse that with a gentle smile is a wonderful gift to offer another person.

We all could learn something here. There is a real benefit to looking at people who pass by us.

With eye contact comes real contact.
Something that is increasingly diminishing these days.

I learned this week that it isn’t all that difficult to look past your issues and offer a simple smile to those around you. It just might make a difference in someone’s day.