SMILE

When I was little I loved to ride on my brothers shoulders. It was so much fun being right up there, I felt like I was one of the grown ups. One day he dropped me, I fell and hit my face on the edge of my rocking horse – it was fire engine red with blue reigns. I lost a couple of my front teeth & the nerves became dead in the others. As a result I learned not to smile; I’d cover my mouth or suck in my lips & clamp down – anything not to reveal my hideous smile. The years passed, my second set of teeth came all perfectly straight & white but I still found it hard to show them at all…I still found it hard to smile.