Trained Professional
After 63 years of smiling
You might say I’m a professional
I don’t know when I smiled for the first time
After all I was a baby for a while
My parents didn’t take many photos of me
I was the second child
so I guess the novelty had worn off.
Sometimes a full toothed grin
Followed by uncontrollable laughter
Isn’t that the best?
When I was a kid my teeth were perfect
Thankfully they were straight and bright white
No need for braces (Thank God)
Because that would have taken a back seat
to the next case of beer or a bottle of five star liquor.
I come from a tradition of smilers
My grandpa was the best
A barber who could pour on the charm
He had one gold tooth and smoked a pipe
Quick with a joke and his 100 watt smile
The public loved him
We loved him
But he was cruel in his way
He ruined my dad
My dad almost ruined me
My dad was also a talented smiler
People wanted to be his friend
He was only capable of pretend
So we moved again and again
One step and two smiles later
A new place to move
That was the trend
So I learned my own smile
Got good at it
so I could make friends
Always the new kid
Sad kid
Laughing kid
Trying to escape for a minute or two
If you’d seen that 75 watt smile
You might have believed it was true
Now don’t be sad for me
My smile helped me make a living
It brought people into my life
It helped me make life long friends
It wooed the love of my life
It became real
(Fake it till you make it)
So now I have plenty of reasons to smile
My teeth aren’t as white as they once were
I do have a lot more reasons to smile
I’m loved
I’m content
I’m happy
To avoid conflict I can still at times hide behind my smile
( I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing)
After all I am a professional smiler
I have 63 years of experience under my lips.
Written for Karen Jone’s contest about smiling even though I’m too late to enter.
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