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The Look



You can’t replace the genuine look and emotion on someone’s face when you know you have made an impact. I was fortunate to see that very look a number of times over the weekend. Unbeknownst to the family, I flew my nephew, Shayne, in Saturday from Camp Pendleton to see his family. My nephew-in-law Scott and niece, Tiana were my on the ground contacts to handle all the logistics with my sister and the family locally in Alvin. We all converged on my sister’s house and watched as Shayne stood at the door in his USMC dress blue uniform waiting for my sister to open the door. The look on her face was priceless. It went from the look of total shock, to emotional overload, to a smile and to the look only a mother can give. She stepped out the door, still in shock, and said: “what are you doing here…I thought you couldn’t come home.” She started hugging him and wouldn’t let go. She then smiled a little and looked at the rest of us and asked: “were all of y’all in on this?” We smiled. What else could we do? The truth is that we had been coordinating this event for a couple of weeks and boy, it was a challenge to keep it quiet, but we did it.

Mark, my brother-in-law, arrived home a few hours later. We had the family out in the garage. I looked over at Mark with one of my most solemn looks, Oscar worthy even, and said: “Mark, I need to talk to you alone.” I saw the color drain from his face. I said: “we need to talk one-on-one…can we go out in the garage?” As I opened the door, Shayne was standing there in uniform with my sister. Again, The Look appeared but Mark’s reaction was a little different than my sister’s. He ran over and grabbed Shayne and started hugging him and shaking him. The whole time saying: “I can’t believe my boy is home.” Mark was hugging him so hard at one time that Shayne’s head was turning red, but he was still smiling and taking it all in.

We spent the next few hours laughing a lot and having fun, having some tasty adult beverages, smiling, and sharing The Look. At one point, Mark and I were talking alone in the garage. He made the comment about not having the words to convey what he was feeling. I smiled as he didn’t need any words. I saw The Look. Whether it is family, friends or a total stranger, there is opportunity each day to share The Look. Share a smile, buy someone a cup of coffee, pass out a few compliments and you will see what I’m talking about.


Rodney - Just Looking Around