I’m a frowner from a line of frowners. Nana Joyce, Mama Syd? Great frowners. And our kids? Well, they come out frowning, too.
It’s always Jac’s first observation when they arrive. How they have my frown.
Nice.
Late this summer, I’d find Gemma scowling at me. She’d draw her brows down low over her eyes and crease her forehead. Making eye contact with me, she’d raise her eye brows and break into a grin. After a few weeks, she’d say, “Mama! Mama! Mama-mama-mama-mama-mama!” until I’d look at her and she’d frown and then burst into her happy face and giggle at me. Soon I realized that she was my emotional mirror and her, “Mamaaa!”s would make me change my expression without having to look at her.
But I always would look at her because that smile – her smile – was always great and deserved an answer in kind. And I want to pass that smile along with the frown.
