sjsprWriting

The skin on the tip of my index finger glides across the smooth glass. A constant pattern from the bottom to the top. The digit descends when the acme has been reached but I am careful to not touch the screen. Again, from the bottom to the top.

Persuasive advertisements, artsy photographs, and funny videos pop-up into my vision. Twenty likes. A hundred likes. {Must have many friends.} Only ten views thus far. 1.2 million views. {Viral.}

Post: “Lissette has tagged Arlene in a photo.”

What have they been up to? Four high school friends, now creeping on middle age, visiting Las Vegas for the past five days; no limit can be set on the potential possibilities of what the image might display. Ok, I’m ready to investigate. Scrolling up… NOW!

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4 ever friends! !!

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W o w… {I have to take a breath.} The most beautiful smile I have ever seen has just appeared on my display.

My mom’s birthday had just passed a few days ago. Us, a family of four, had celebrated this momentous and special affair by going to a high end restaurant in order to rejoice in the occasion as a family. However, the one oh so important item that is essential to birthdays had been entirely forgotten, the cake. The flowers were centered, the song was sung, dessert was consumed. But where was the cake? Where was the baked then frosted convection to be found? Nowhere.

Her friends not only bought a cake and sang to her, but even went as far as to purchase matching headbands with candles sticking up at the top. The words HAPPY BIRTHDAY are attached to these candles in silver coloring, making it seem as if they were floating.

The photo shows my mom sandwiched tightly in between two of her best friends while each one smothers a cheek, respectively, with a colossal kiss. No pretenses, no dishonesty. Only rays of pure love and happiness emit from the photo. These emotions somehow find their way inside, making the visual image that much more impacting. I never realized just how beautiful my mom’s smile is until I paid attention without obstructions. The way her cheeks lift up as if two small balloons had been inflated inside her mouth. The sight of her straight teeth due to having favorable genes which thankfully I inherited as well. Finally, the manner in how smiling makes her look livelier and happier.

I loath hurting any one of my parents. It is not my intention to make them feel sad or distressed. If anything, these are the emotions I try to avoid evoking within them. The form in which my mom is smiling is the way I want her and my dad to feel, even if they do not express it physically.