In the morning when at home my first task of the day, not counting the cup of tea, is to walk Toby my 15 year old Yorkshire Terrier. In his younger days he used to bound along full of energy but nowadays we proceed at a more leisurely pace, do I hear mutterings of ‘he’s not the only one!’
This morning was very warm and humid so ‘snail’s pace’ was the order of the day, but what can one expect from the equivalent of an 85 year old with 6 inch legs and in a fur coat!
In spite of all this it’s one of my favourite times of the day. We meet and greet folk walking up to the railway station, children and parents going down to the local primary school. Sometimes there’s an opportunity to chat but most of the time it’s just a quick ‘hello’.
If Toby senses that someone is walking behind us he turns and waits, paws rooted to the spot refusing to budge until the person has caught up with us. This always produces the same result, a broad smile!
Toby produces the same result in people when occasionally we travel by rail, they smile when they see him gazing curiously up at them. Isn’t it amazing how transformative a smile can be? I have a copy of the following on the wall of my study :-
‘Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu
When someone smiled at me today I started smiling too
I walked around the corner and someone saw me grin
When he smiled I realised I had passed it on to him
I thought about that smile and then realised its worth
A single smile like mine could travel round the earth
So if you feel a smile begin don’t leave it undetected
Lets start an epidemic and get the world infected’
Job 29 :24 ‘When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them.’
Every blessing, Sandra
