Smile
His eyes crinkled; the corner of his lips curved upward; he shone brighter than the sun, and all he did was smile and laugh. When my mother sat, exhausted and heartbroken, he stared from beneath her hands and smiled to comfort her. When we came home, he gave us a heartfelt smile. It was one of those smiles that could light up the whole world. And it’s always smiles now but not a single laugh. His smiles were on the walls, on the counters, wherever we go; they were decorated alone on his face or mixed with our own smiles. But that was it. It was just smiles of older memories. The young him, the older him, the married him, the ones with us huddled together, the ones beautifully captured with my mother, the ones shadowed in the night, and the ones shining in the sun. They were all there and there were so many but we don’t get more smiles, we can’t anymore. No more laughter. No more hugs. No beautiful, warm presence. No more additional love except the kind we know still exist. But we still are embraced, we still feel warm auras, and we still hear laughter! Just not his... I miss him. My mother misses him more. We all miss him, but all he can do is smile for us. It’s still a beautiful smile though. One that is only stuck on the walls and the counters. One that can’t ever appear again. |