Friday Five--Five Smiles

Getting our kicks . . . 

I have finally figured out my love language. I don't do dinner parties. I don't cook, in fact, unless under extreme duress. I don't do social gatherings larger than 3 close friends. I'm not a great counselor (although I am a good listener, and sometimes God comes up with great things to say through and despite me). 

I don't remember birthdays on social media and may forget those in my immediate family on occasion. So how in the world do I connect with people?

I have discovered that my “connection” language is travel. I should have known that. In the car is where most personal discussions with my kids have ever taken place. Travel memories are the ones our family returns to time and again. So other people will cook with their friends—I will travel to know you. I just have to figure out how to make that affordable.

Since this week's link is Friday Five Smiles (click here to see more), I thought this revelation was good for today, because I've just been on a week-long road trip with a daughter. And we had smiles. SO many of them. Here are Five.

I let her choose our first motel. She picked this cute place authentic to Route 66. This set off an intentional detour the next day to stay on the iconic highway for a while rather than get back on zoom-zoom 44. We smiled, a lot.

Slowing down often produces smiles.

We drove off course a bit to see a giant blue whale. You could jump off it into a pond. We didn't. But you could. And that made it super cool. Particularly in the middle of Oklahoma, where giant blue whales are not common.

Life's detours are great chances for connection and smiles.

We set off smoke alarms in a hotel in Shreveport. This was not our fault—the air conditioning had left the room at a cozy 61 degrees when we walked in at 11 pm, and we needed some heat to stay there. Unfortunately, turning on the heat released noxious fumes that simulated (or were) something burning. The smell and noise was not smiley or fun. But the laughter afterward was. You connect when you try to torch a hotel together.

Mistakes and malfunctions create smiles, when we treat them like adventures together rather than disasters.

We did new things and found whole new worlds. Serendipitously, the two even connected.

No, that is henna. Not that adventurous.

               

Braving the new is an achievement worth smiling about.

We chronicled all the signs we we passed through.

Because it's always good to smile at both where you've been and where you're going.

 Happy Friday!

What are your smiles today?