Smiling With Teeth

I make it a practice to smile and make eye contact with people as I walk past them.  And if I happen to know their name, I always try and use it.

Oh and when I say that I smile at people when I pass them. It's usually a closed lip smile. Nothing grandiose, but hey, it's still a smile right?

Wrong!

Story time:
One day I was walking down the street on my way home from a very busy day of interviewing, work and school. Did I mention that I was exhausted?  I was on the sidewalk in front of my house doing my usual "smile and make eye-contact with people" routine when a blonde-haired boy passed me. I made eye-contact and gave him my weak, closed lip smile.

Guess what he did?

He smiled back at me.
Wait there's more.
He smiled with his teeth! He gave me the most fantastic full-blown smile I had ever seen! I had no idea who this boy was, but I couldn't help but return it with a full-blown, tooth-filled grin of my own. I grinned the whole rest of my walk home.

From that very second onward, I decided that I was ridding myself of that quaint, pathetic,closed-lip smile I'd been giving out like candy. If I was going to smile at someone I passed, I was going to really smile at them.

December 2009: Ok so these are awful picture examples (in more ways than one) but we're going for it anyway :)

I've been doing that for over three months now. I love the reaction to it. It's usually a quick look of surprise followed by an extraordinary smile (with teeth) right back at me.

However, now that it's gotten quite chilly outside, this practice of mine has gotten a bit difficult. You see, If I'm outside with less than 4 jackets on, my teeth chatter uncontrollably (really, I've tried to control it, but it just doesn't happen) So giving a full-blown smile while my teeth are chattering a million miles an hour is quite the feat, and I'm sure it looks pretty ridiculous, but that's ok :)

Now, I know what you're all wondering, "Wait, what happened to the mystery blond-haired boy who caused Noelle to change her ways??" Don't worry, I've gotcha covered.

Follow-Up Story Time
I was at my friend's birthday party when I saw this boy sitting on the couch. Sometimes I don't think before I speak... so as soon as I recognized him, I rushed over to the couch and said, "You're the boy who smiles with teeth!" Hahaha just thinking about it makes me laugh. How ridiculous am I?

Luckily, he is a very nice boy and didn't make things awkward. I recounted the aforementioned story to him and he enjoyed it. We even went out on a date and became good friends. All because of  a very non-pathetic smile.

What I hope you gained from this story: A new-found desire to smile at people with your teeth. You never know where it'll get you, and how it'll influence the receiver of your smile.

Also, if you happen to pass me one day and I give you my pathetic smile, feel free to reprimand me... but do so kindly :)

Love, Noelle