Smile

You know what it is like. You are surrounded by cameras, camcorders and people mashing your cheeks. "Say Cheese". Toys waggling around, things making squeaky noises, photographer making silly faces. And this was for your name badge at your new job. It never really changes. We are trained like Pavlov's dog as infants that when we see a small black box or see bright lights it is not the coming of Jesus but one of our inspired old people trying to capture a memory.
Back in the 1800 and early 1900's if you had a single photo album to pass on to your children you were doing good. But now you hand down a zipped up wallet holding 600 photo discs. I know! I am already on my third and my son is only 13. Whew. It is crazy, but then maybe that is what we are planning for, when we loose our minds for good.
My dad had that movie camera with the flood lights. Blinded you while you were standing in another room. "Smile" he would chime. I was lucky just to keep my eyes from watering let alone release my tightly grimaced face. And if I did actually open my eyes I was unable to see for the rest of the morning. Opening gifts on Christmas was more like reading Braille. "Oh it feels like a doll. Thanks!" Then I would hear "Smile" and the flash from the Brownie camera would go off.Back to my braille..
There have been a long line of "flashers" that have left countless children sightless. One of my favorites was "the cube". The flat 120 camera with the tower and square cube on top. It would flash and then spin for a continuous photo opportunity. "Smile", flash, "Smile", flash, "Smile" flash........
The worst were the outdoor pictures. Facing directly into the 2 pm sun, waiting several minutes for the film to be advanced, then the command would come. "Smile" and you would try, eyes watering so badly that you looked like you have had some terrible life event like you are grounded for an hour, or some such. And you knew you were not going anywhere until the old people were satisfied so you tried your hardest not to cry and then smile without blinking. There are a lot of tortured looking pictures from the 60's and 70's. Thank God for fill flash and digital cameras. No more are we stuck with bad photos, we click Delete:)
Well a good thing that came from all that abuse was that we were taught to SMILE. Whether you felt like it or not, you knew that you were going to be faced with that picture on the wall for the rest of your life. Smile. And really how hard is it to smile. I liked the analogy in View from the Top. The stewardess learns to smile even when they are out of nuts or bloody mary mix. Just do it, try!I know you can. It is so much easier to do and live with then consequences that come from an angry temperament. It goes along with letting stuff roll off your shoulders, forgiveness, grace, mercy and joy. It's all good. Let it go and "Smile" Flash