Favorite Part of My Day

I could see them as I walked down the street from the bakery. One was one of my neighbors who lives on one of the upper floors. She's got two little toddlers and one baby who's less than a year old. The other was a friend of hers who lives in a nearby building - she's got a baby and a little girl of about two. They were standing and chatting in front of the entrance to my building while the toddlers were wandering around them on the sidewalk.

I said hello to the ladies and let myself into the building. The front and sides of the lobby are all glass and when I bent down in front of my mailbox to empty it something caught my attention. Still bent over I lifted my eyes and saw the little girl on the other side of the glass. She was in a sweet little pink outfit, her head haloed in curly brown hair and her deep brown eyes were fixed on me. I smiled at her and she rewarded me with a big smile back. Feeling silly, I made a little face at her - wrinkling my nose a bit - and she laughed. She returned the favor and made a little face at me and then we both laughed. It went on and on back and forth, exchanges of silly faces and giggles until finally I had to straighten up before I got stuck in a permanently hunched over position. That's when I noticed the ladies, evidently attracted by the laughter, had strolled over to watch me and my new little face-making friend in action.

I gave them a little smile that said "You caught me," and they gave me back a little smile that said "Ohhhh yeah,". And then I gave them a little sheepish wave, another wave to my curly haired friend and scooted myself into the elevator.