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.