The little invisible string

I stare at my kid a lot. I don’t know if that is weird or if I will ever stop, but I can’t really help it. I love to watch him, to observe his face and movements and drink it all in.

There is one thing in particular that I love to catch, and it’s a smile blooming on his face. He will be standing there, mouth slack, observing something (Elmo and Dorothy, for one, or the opening title sequence of House of Cards, for another), and one side of his upper lip will catch just so and curl upward, like it’s been hooked by a fishing line. Then the rest of his lips will curl back and reveal his teeth and a full grin, a drop of delight.