A while back when driving to work I had an epiphany of sorts, “My job is to smile and look pretty and, sometimes, have words come out of my mouth.” It is for this very reason that I have stocked up on dental floss, toothpaste, and lip shimmer.
Smiling and looking pretty is something I have been doing, in theory, since I got the t-shirt that read ‘pre·co·cious,’ when I was ten years old. I received this shirt at a time when having t-shirts with words, broken into syl·la·bles, was all the rage. The t-shirt was a light peach and the font was a faded black. When wearing it, people, and by ‘people’ I mean my school teachers and relatives, would often say to me, “You are a precocious one.” Since the shirt only had the word and not the definition, I would just smile and look pretty, of course. At the time, I was unaware of the definition of precocious.
Looking back now, I realize that I was, in fact, very precocious. Smiling and looking pretty is a proclivity and ability not everyone is capable of and I figured it out at a very young age. Thus, years later, when I actually got to put it into practice at work, I was very proud.
Every now and again I participate in television interviews and the subject matter is usually rather grim, which means no smiling. My most recent interview was no exception. The reporter asked me several questions and the interview was going swimmingly, until he asked a question I could not answer.
I had previously provided a round-about answer, but the reporter would not relent and I could not, under any circumstance, directly answer the question. So, I thought back to my morning epiphany and pre·co·cious t-shirt wearing days, and I smiled. “You’re not going to answer my question, are you?” the reporter asked. My smile remained and, to take it up a notch, I complimented it with my signature wink (head tilt to the left). The reporter smiled back and stopped asking.
As he walked away, without the answer, the lyrics to Bette Davis Eyes played in my head, “She’s precocious, and she knows just what it takes to make a pro blush…..” Smiling and looking pretty does have it’s advantages.