Thursday, June 29, 2023

Thursday, 6/29

It's amazing how one word can brighten your day, even when that day is as gloomy as can be.

I was a little bummed yesterday, as the forecast called for nice weather and as it turned out that “nice” weather consisted of rain and clouds. Yet when I went running in the rain and saw a particular word written on the sidewalk; well, I actually found myself with a smile on my face.

If only because that word was, indeed, "smile".

You see, someone had written the word "smile" and drawn a smiley face next to it on the bike path near McCarty's Cove. I actually first saw it Monday, on mile 3 of a 4-mile run, and let me tell you--coming across that word when you're huffing and puffing actually DOES put a smile on your face, and gives you an extra boost to finish that last mile (especially when you're a masochist and you know that last mile ends with you running up the Front Street hill from Founder's Landing to the Landmark Inn.). Both Monday and then again yesterday in the rain I saw that the word, and automatically, without even thinking, did what it said.

And I know I'm not the only one, either. I've heard several people walking ahead of or behind me comment on that one word written on the bike path. I'm sure they have the same reaction I have, and, like me, probably had it without even thinking. Such is, I guess, the power of one word.

Such is the power of THAT word.

So to whoever wrote that one word on the bike path, just let me say "thanks". You'd be amazed to find out how many smiles you've put on faces of people you've never met. And with the way things are going on our world these days, to perform a feat like that is an amazing thing.

Heck—it might even put a, ahem, smile on your face.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

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