Monkey bar Monday.

by

Who wouldnt smile over a HEAD SIZED cupcake?

 
 

I cant remember where it came from (perhaps the movie City Slickers?), but somehow the child & I have made a running joke out of the notion of losing our smiles.

One of us announces she’s lost her smile (meaning she feels less than happy) and the other offers a smile to try on.

Invariably the grin doesnt fit (lopsided, too big, too small, too grimace’y…you get the idea) & after a little while both of us are laughing and have re-found our smiles.

Ive had a little bit of a lost smile the past few days.

I looked for it myriad places (in books, on phone with friends, in BRAVO reality tv) to no avail.

Until yesterday.

The Tornado commandeered my smart phone while we were frolicking at the park & announced she wanted to film me monkey bar’ing.

That shit chickenbus is HARD when you’re over the age of 6 and who knew it would be where Id find my smile.


 

ShowOff McGee The Tornado then shared her mad skillz:


How do you re-find your smile when life conspires to steal it away?

 
 
Next time Im starting my search at the playground.  Who knew?

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Comments

  1. As well as comfort food (egad!) I turn to comfort TV series, movies and books when I am feeling low and need cheering up. (The sort that I watch /read again and again!)

    I was never a big fan of monkey bars as a youngster, but I loved the swings and if I could find one big enough for me now (and sturdy enough!) I’d love to swing my cares away!

    Deb

    • There is nothing better than swinging cares away.
      I love my porch swing when I lose my smile!

  6. I think I could smile over a cupcake that size too! 😉

    My kids typically bring me back my smile. Their goofiness knows no bounds.

  7. I like that phrasing of losing your smile.
    I am struggling with seasonal allergies and that is how I feel, too.
    I’ll look at the girl’s school’s playground LOL

  9. Drinking?
    🙂
    OK, for real I find my smile in my twins.

    And yes that is from the movie City Slicker.

  12. tornado can totally swing! she’s got skill! my mom used to help me find my smile. It was lost from time to time, but a good hug and play always made it come back.

    and yes, i think it was city slickers.

  13. I haven’t done monkey bars in years and must admit that it never went that well…even back then. Tornado has some made skills. What makes me get my smile back? I try my hardest to laugh. Then I end up truly laughing at myself because of my fake laugh. Sounds crazy. I know =)

  21. I love her murmured, “you can do it.” THAT makes me smile. When I was a little girl and had lost my smile, my stepfather had a sure-fire way of helping me find it. He’d say, “Now don’t you smile! Don’t do it! Karen! I told you…no smiling!” Never failed. Just thinking about it makes me smile…it’s good to remember the good in people who were often so so full of pain.

    These days I can find my smile when my husband hugs me, on a walk to the beach, when my cats are around, when my stepkids and grandson are around…it really is the simple things.

    • YES! that was my fave part too. I struggle with the fact she did ask me:

      mama are you sad? did you leave your smile (the last place we’d been)___?

      but I was just honest.
      and she helped me refind it.

  22. I love how you work together to find your smiles! Who would have thunk! 😉 I wish the grandkids still lived here cause that would do it! 🙂

    For me, it varies & depends on what is causing the no smiles.. I have to find a way to get past it… it might be as easy as a cookie, 😉 OR just realizing I am lucky to be alive…. I think I might have to try the playground but I don’t have Tornado! 🙂

  23. Like you, I find my smiles with my tiny. No matter what’s going on, what is swirling, what is weighing, just hugging her brings my smile. Love this post. xo

  25. You aren’t kidding about monkey bars … I took my nephew to the park and he dared me to try them. I thought it would be NBD since I did them ALL THE TIME as a kid … holy cow! Probably harder because I weigh more than when I was 8 😉

    When life threatens to take my smile I just play with my daughter too. Seeing the innocence and pure joy that is childhood is a guaranteed way for my grin to come back 🙂

  26. Good timing on this post, MizFit. I’ve been feeling like I lost my smile the past few days as well…..mostly due to just too many big decisions weighing heavy on my mind. My smile came back to me briefly last night when my Wife made me laugh hysterically due to something she said…..but it seems to be gone again today. But I’m looking hard for it.

    Thanks for this post.

    Darryl

  28. I like the phrasing of ‘lost my smile’ versus what I normally say to my kid (I’m grumpy).

    It reads less negative to me.

  30. I take a walk with the hubs (once I quit moping about the house in my sweats, that is). The poor guy then has 30 minutes of uninterrupted venting to deal with, but I always feel better when I get back.

  32. Depends. Usually spending time with someone I love – my hubs or my girlfriends or my girls. Sometimes it requires some time to myself which is so rare these days and so needed.

    Monkey bars kick my butt now – I used to be able to swing like a, well, monkey. But no more. Yikes!

  33. LOVE!!! This (and YOU!!) Too often I am too busy finding (and looking for) what is wrong with the circumstance… and not actively looking for my SMILE!

    When I pause and enjoy the MOMENT… anywhere (on my run, with my kids, with my husband, doing laundry…) is when I find my smile 🙂

  34. I remember sailing across the monkey bars all the time as a kid…now? Not so much. Nice work getting across them!!! Yeah, that smile thing…I found mine in the mud yesterday. I think doing something physical that demands all of your attention is a great distraction from the utter unbelievable CRAP that life throws at you.

  36. Oh I just love you and the tornado. Thanks for the tip to look for my missing smile at the playground. 🙂 You rocked those monkey bars by the way.

  38. Super cute! I find lately that to get my smile back, I really just need to look around and realize how lucky I am to be where I’m at, and have all that I have in my life.

    If that doesn’t work, a run, bike, or swim can work.

    If all that falls through – vodka. Sometime it takes vodka. 🙂

  39. Its easy to go days and days without smiling with a hormonal teenager in the house…I resort to the muppets…”Mah-nah-mah-nah, do, do, do-do!” or I watch some clean, christian comedians on the internet like Phil Callaway!

  40. confession: i have never crossed the monkey bars in my life and it has become my goal to do it before i die. you think i am being dramatic, but i am being serious. i CANNOT do it and wish i could! gotta turn that wish into a reality. thanks for motivating me!

  42. Monkey bars are hella hard! I was shocked too when I tried ’em recently.

    The Tornado seems an excellent lost-smile finder, glad she helped you find yours. The Lobster is my go-to source for lost smiles, though chocolate helps too…

  43. I reclaim my smiles by getting alone. Just me. No kids. No hubby. Perhaps an early evening where I retire to my room to watch nature shows on TV (Discovery Channel ‘n such), and some prayer time too. In solitude. I’m smiling again the next day. You keep smiling, baby! xo

  44. Hats off to to both of you monkeys! I wouldn’t even attempt to belly up to that kind of bar! 😉 Have a great day Miz, thank you for the video that made me found my smile this morning.

  46. I was meant for the monkey bars with my monkey arms! Ooh Ooh Aah Aah. Queen of Cheese. Right. Here. Sending smiles your way 🙂 🙂 🙂 :p

    The cupcake put a huge smile on my face! 🙂

  49. As I struggle to do a single pull-up now, I can’t help but think back on the days when I spent HOURS on the monkey bars. I *will* do a pull up, but I’m thinking skin-the-cats aren’t in my future. 🙂

    Glad you found your smile!

  50. Outside – that is where I find my smile. Taking pictures, relaxing with coffee or just walking the dog. Works most times.

  51. I used to love monkey bars! I tried them again a few years ago, but couldn’t do it at all. That was really part of why I started exercising more. I haven’t tried them again yet, but now you’ve motivated me to find a set and go for it 🙂

  54. Haha! swinging across the monkey bars is hard now. So is jump roping. And kids can whip it out like its no tomorrow. Of course, their body mass is smaller but… Glad you found your smile. 😉

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