The Moral of the Story

Cindy Trane Christeson

“The day began with dismal doubt. A stubborn thing to put to rout: But

all my worries flew away when someone smiled at me today.”

-- Unknown

“Mommy, do you really think God smiles?”

Both our daughters, Kelly and Amy, asked me that question when they were

little. Sometimes when they would flash me one of their dimpled smiles or

do something extra nice or helpful, I would say, “I think you just made

God smile.” And that is what sparked the question.

I remember saying something like, “Yes, I do think God smiles, honey. I

know your smile makes me happy, and I’m sure it makes God happy, too.”

I notice smiles. I love smiles, I love smiling, and something caught my

attention at Ralphs supermarket last week that made me stop in my tracks

and smile and remember those conversations from years ago with our girls.

I was in the cereal aisle, somewhere between the granola and the

Wheaties, when I noticed a yellow sticky note wadded up in the corner of

the cart. For some reason I was curious to see what the mystery person

who used the cart last had on his or her shopping list. So I reached

down, picked it up and unfolded it.

I could decipher some of the words, like cheese, eggs and napkins. There

also was a word that had been crossed out that looked like “smiles.”

Maybe it originally said s’mores and the person wrote it as a reminder to

buy chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows but decided against it.

Whatever the word was, I liked the idea of writing “smiles” on my grocery

list on days when I feel in need of them.

Smiles are like boomerangs and often come back to me if I send them out

in the first place. I did just that the same day as I turned into the

bread and bagel aisle.

As I rounded the corner, I had a mild bump-in with an energetic little

boy who was power-pushing his little shopping cart. He looked surprised,

but then he surprised me by apologizing even before I had a chance to.

Behind him was a weary-looking mother with a baby in her cart, and I

could see she was trying to catch up with her son. I smiled at her and

said, “Looks like you have an eager helper there. I want to compliment

you, and him. He apologized even before I did, and not every little boy

or girl would do that. Keep up the good work, it’s working.”

She smiled, looked up at me and said, “Thanks for that reminder.” As she

rounded the corner I could hear her telling her son how proud she was of

him.

Maybe it would be a good idea to occasionally stick little reminders to

smile on our steering wheels and shopping carts. And the next time you

run to the market to pick up some groceries, see if you can’t share a

smile in the aisle, as well.

And you can quote me on that.CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach

resident who speaks frequently to parenting groups. She can be reached

via e-mail at cindy@onthegrow.com or through the mail at P.O. Box

6140-No. 505, Newport Beach 92658.