Smiling with a squished up face.

I went to Michigan this past weekend to visit with my beautiful sister and brother-in-law and my ridiculously adorable nephew. Luke, at 11 months old, has discovered that if you think something is really hilarious, you should squish up your nose and smile with all 4 of your teeth showing, this is how people will know that you don't think it's merely fun or interesting, but simply hi-LAR-ious. This is how I know that he thinks that I am hilarious, because he was squishing up his nose and beaming at me all weekend. That and we had a great time zooming around the living room, with me pushing him on his red plastic fire truck and yelling, "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" To which he responded with, "Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!" It was stinking hysterical. And all caught on tape for public viewing pleasure. Including the part where he fell off the fire truck at the end. Ah, such is life. No harm or injuries, he got right back on that red plastic fire truck and off we went for another round.

It made me think, today, about how guarded we are, as human beings. We're not really into showing our emotions on our sleeves, because it's frowned upon in public. But what a tragedy it has become that we have become experts in that most dangerous art form, repression. Nothing triggers an emotional crisis faster than a pile of repressed emotions, hiding under the surface. There is only so much room within our psyche to store those things out of the way before they start intruding on the everyday stuff stored up there. And then you have a hissy fit because your tank top got ruined in the wash. A silly, $10 Old Navy tank top. And you act like the world has come to a complete and utter end because of it. (I speak from experience, I'm sure you know this...) But being with Luke, I was reminded that at one point, we didn't know what it meant to repress emotions. If we were scared at the thunderstorm that woke us up, we cried. If we didn't want to finish our sippy cup full of water, we pushed it off the tray. And if we thought something was hi-LAR-ious, we would squish up our noses and show all of our teeth with no inhibition at all. I miss Luke already. And his squished-up beaming smile. It's funny how someone that's not even one year old can teach you a lesson about life...and a good one, at that.