Recently, we were on ‘vacation’ in beautiful Santa Barbara, California, taking care of my mother-in-law while my sister-in-law took a long overdue vacation with her husband. The ocean is absolutely gorgeous there, and wandering the beaches is one of my favorite things to do. I love finding sea glass and pretty shells. The sand fleas creep me out; they jump and hop, then dig into the sand to hide. I like watching the seagulls and the sand pipers.
In addition to wandering the beaches, we were up and down State Street several times this trip. We went to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. Trader Joe’s, Antique Alley, Stackey’s, Joe’s Cafe, the Betsey Johnson store, Happy Feet, the world bead store, Esau’s cafe, the Sterling Silver shop, Santa Barbara Shellfish Company, and every other place that caught our eye. But every single place we visited shared a common feature: Friendly people!
What is it about a place that makes the majority of people happy and friendly? Could it be the moist ocean air? The abundance of greenery and wildlife? Perhaps the average income level has something to do with it. But when I sit down and really think about it, it seems to me that the quantity of friendly people can only be explained by contagion. Santa Barbara, California is infested with smiles.
A real smile starts in the heart and ends in the eyes. We saw genuine smiles everywhere we went. People on the street passed each other with a “Good morning” and a “How are you?”. And they expected a reply! By the time we were headed back to dry, hot Arizona, we were fully infected with happiness
Grumpy people may curl up the edges of their mouths, but that’s as close to a smile as they can get. Impatient people smirk. Come on people, if you aren’t happy, don’t pretend.
Give up the grump! Find something to smile about. And when you do, let that smile work its way right up into your eyes. You’ll be surprised how light your step is when you’re wearing a smile!
