Photo by Lindsay Reynolds on Unsplash

How many days has it been since I’ve seen that crooked smile of yours?

The smile you give me when you think I’m full of shit.

A smile that melts my heart more than anything on this planet.

Sometimes I think of funny or wacky things to say days in advance just so I can take a mental photograph of you looking at me as you shake your head.

That is how we do it though. We know how to get each other to relax and make the days stressors disappear.

I love nothing more than having a great conversation, bantering back and forth.

Or a hard conversation with yelling and crying involved.

I know if you give me that smile it is all going to be ok.

You don’t know this,
but
my goal is to keep you smiling for as long as I live.

That way
when I look back at all my mental photographs

I will see
a collection of
our happiness.

— Nicole Barden 2/8/2021

Originally published in Beloved on Medium