Remembering

I miss catching Miriam's eye from across the room and exchanging quick grins. Her smile used to catch me by surprise, but it was contagious and open, so I smiled back.
In a way, Miriam taught me how to smile. To smile is to share your inner joy with the world outside of yourself, whether or not if there is another person to receive and return that smile.  
Sharing is a way of multiplying happiness, exponentially. To see the joy you yourself feel, in another's eyes, is truly rewarding. 
It doesn't seem like a lot of people really understand this concept, we are taught to share as children, but we learn to do it because we have to, children aren't really taught the true beauty of sharing.  It takes a while to realize that sharing really is more fun than not sharing. 
Do we forget this as adults, or does school train it out of us? Sharing, somehow, somewhere, becomes a reluctant act. It doesn't only apply to things, our possessions, but also to our thoughts and feelings. We don't really share ourselves, our true selves. The inner light that yearns to shine forth but instead gets shoved into the closet in favor of a false light. 
Miriam wasn't afraid to share that inner light, perhaps she never learned not to share it. Her smile was like the sun, I often think of the song "you are my sunshine" whenever I think of her and her beautiful family. 
I miss catching Miriam's eye from across the room and exchanging quick grins. Every person you meet and come to know and love changes you in some way, I used to be frugal with eye contact and my smile, but now, the best thing in the world is to catch someone's eye to see their face light up.