Eye-smiling

"Smiling Eyes" by Inima Mea

My dad had the most twinkly eyes of anyone I've ever known. It was something I grew used to.

When I was about 20 or so, I first heard the song "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." That was it! Pop smiled with his eyes. And his mother's maiden name was McGrath, so he had a drop or two of Irish blood. He had thick wavy auburn hair (some folks called him "Red"), and his eyes were big and brown. He seldom smiled with his mouth - we kids used to giggle whenever we saw Pop's teeth.

One time he spoke to me about the eye-smiling phenomenon. He complained about people who snap pictures of others and command, "Say cheese!" He harrumphed and said simply, "I smile with my eyes."

If you smile with your eyes, you know it. You channel some power into your eyes. People who know how to do this have a special way with a camera - and with other people. They can light up at will. Their light comes right out of their soul and emanates from their eyes as if from two beacons.

In the past, when I smiled close-mouthed, my daughter would scold me and tell me to smile BIG. Since I had surgery in May on cancer on my upper lip, I can't smile big like I used to. The surgery removed some of the lip-top wrinkles (hooray!), but really tightened my whole mouth. I have only now, a month later, begun to be able to use tooth floss. I never realized how much flossing stretches one's lips.

Anyway, when I smile now, I think of Pop. Eye-smiling may have to do for me, at least for a while. I guess that's not so bad.