If you are a long-time reader of this blog, then you know about the EJDs. If you are a newcomer, then let me introduce you to my group of high school friends. Eight of us have been friends for a very long time. Some for over 45 years. EJD stands for eight jelly donuts. We began calling ourselves that sometime during our junior year because...well, there are eight of us, and we used to do "innocent pranks" with jelly donuts.
This past weekend, five out of the eight got together again for two days of laughing, eating, and relishing in friendship.
It has now become a custom that creative gifts are exchanged. This year was no different.
After we took our picture, I sent it to my daughter. She texted, "Are you smiling?"
I thought to myself how dumb that really was and replied, "Oh, yeah. I guess we didn't realize that no one could tell we were smiling with the masks on."
She says, "Oh, I knew."
"How did you know?"
"I could tell by your eyes. They all sparkle."
Sparkle.
Yes, our eyes did sparkle because we were with people we loved, and our joy in the time spent together couldn't help but bubble up and make our eyes sparkle.
This moment made me think about returning to school. Masked. Where no one can tell I am smiling unless they look at my eyes.
I hope they see the sparkle.
I’m joining an open community of writers over at Sharing Our Stories: Magic in a Blog. If you write (or want to write) just for the magic of it, consider this your invitation to join us. #sosmagic