The Smile of a Child

King of the Wild Frontier, scaler of the swing set, and muser with a downward gaze...  In this second grade picture of me, coonskin cap and all (if you were born after 1960, don't even ask), I am so unaware of the camera. In those days we had little sense of the paparazzi's presence. We didn't pose when the camera came out; we kept on doing whatever we were doing and just slowed down a bit.

I would like to think that we cusp-of-the-boomer kids did not think we were the center of the universe...but I know it is not true. But because of a simpler, advertising-"deprived" life style, we did have a wonderful opportunity to just be children. That was pretty cool.

I once wrote a poem that included these lines:


I smiled
a quiet smile...
a thankful smile.
The smile of a child.


When I saw this MonaLisaesque smile on my rounded baby face, it make me think of these words. And made me long for the inner innocence that renders such a smile...the smile of a child.

"Unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." (Jesus)

This little me-girl speaks a message to my heart that spans a fifty-four-year bridge of time. Like a time capsule I just opened.


"When you grow up, don't let anything take away your childlike heart."