Is it that hard to smile?

For the most part, I think I have hope.

Even though I can come off as gruff, I wish that we could live in a world where people smile at each other and say,"excuse me" when they need to get by and "thank you" when you hold the door open for them. Now, I know I'm a dreamer, but I sort of remember a time ( a generation ago ) when this happened. I don't know why it's so hard. Every now and then, if you look real hard, you can catch a wisp of it.

The other day at Lowes, I got a glimpse of what it could be like. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, and I noticed people were friendlier than usual. Other shoppers weren't afraid to look at me. They made eye contact and smiled. old people, little kids, men, women. The majority of people made eye contact with me and smiled.

It made me feel great. I felt happy to be a part of this society, happy to be sharing the planet with these people. Was it the sunshine? Was it beautiful spring day in the 70's?

When I got to my car, I couldn't wait to share my experience with Bluesmom as she gets irritated at the rudeness of the world too.

As I looked in the rear-view mirror to back out, my euphoria turned to anguish. There on my chin, were the mustardy remains of my Sam's Club polish dog. As I wiped the mustard off of my face, I also wiped away the jubilation I had felt a few minutes earlier.

Alas, the world was back as I had known it before so I sneered at the pedestrian innocently crossing the street. No mustard, no smile.