all in a smile...

I am somewhere in the midst of my workout when Coach Erik reminds me to smile, saying... the most beautiful person in the room is the one who is smiling. 

The smile that comes is real, but perhaps not fully complete, since I am trying to do math in my head along side it ... if the workout is 32 minutes long and we are doing four minute intervals, how many are left?  

In my forty-two and a half years, I have earned many laugh lines. My smile has created them, and I would not trade a single one, joy-filled... or not. I use it to convey happiness and love... to hide sorrow, and hold back the tears. The laughter bubbles out giddy when I am afraid, and when we take one more trip to an emergency room {better to laugh than cry?} It is part of me that I am never without, and I rely on it to carry me through.

When he begins another interval saying last one, my smile is full. Yes! And then it takes on even more purpose as I give it my all, holding nothing back and feeling... beautiful. The power of a smile is great and true. I am joyful over what I am accomplishing, but even more so because of the way I am doing it.