Advice I got from my mother

I have no idea why the subject ever came up with my mother, but sometime when I was about 13 years old, I somehow received advice from her about... unbelievably ... about the subject of girls.

Now, I could have really used some practical tips on how to chat up girls, or where to go on a date, or even something like kissing girls in the back row at the movies, but what my mother came up with ... well, it probably set me back socially about 5 years.

The essence of the advice (which, give me some credit here.... I NEVER acted on) was to "smile at them"

That was it...... just smile at girls.... thanks a lot, Mom.

So, at age 13 I thought it was the most useless thing I had ever heard.

And at age 23, it was still banging around in my head, and I still thought that Mom really hadn't given me much of a practical plan.

And at age 33, years after she had passed away, I still wondered what she could possibly have been thinking.

But, finally, just a few years ago, at 43, with a couple of kids of my own soon to be teenagers....

I could almost imagine those words rolling off of my lips someday......