Hansel

LOOK AT THIS PICTURE. I was surfing through one of the stock photo sites that I frequent, looking for a picture of a smiling kid, and this little guy popped up. No, it’s not me, I was VERY cute as a child (I would even say, that like most people, my childhood was the height of my attractiveness). Anyway, I was surfing along, looking at “normal” looking kids when Hansel (my name for him) popped up. As you might suspect, laughter erupted from my soul as I witnessed this vision of perfection. Kids are cute. This is a rule that everybody knows, but this kid it REALLY ridiculously cute.

I can imagine this little fellow living his entire life and turning 85 years old today…

This picture reminding him of the mockery that he experienced from his friends in high school when it was displayed on the fireplace in his parents home. “Nice hat,” they might say…

Reminding him of his wedding day, when it was blown up to poster size and displayed at his reception. “You are so cute,” his wife must have said…

Reminding him of his retirement party from the railroad, when the same poster from his wedding, now with broken corners and some water damage under the right ear, was displayed a second time. “Is that picture ever going to leave me alone,” he might say with laughing tears in his wrinkled eyes.

Now it reminds him of the vision of his inner soul. If he could pick an attitude, a way that he has seen the world during his 85 years, this would be it. The passion he sees behind his eyes in this picture, he knows has lasted his entire life. Birth, growth, wife, kids, railroad, retirement, and one innocent smile.

Here’s to you Hansel. You will always make me giggle.