smile

"The day began with dismal doubt

A stubborn thing to put to rout;

But all my worries flew away

When someone smiled at me today."

                    author unknown

When I was a little girl, my mum gave me this tiny litttle white book with the words, "Smile" written on the cover. It was a Helen Exley Giftbook and I cherished it so much that that little book became so worn out. But the words written inside are still intact, and frankly, to me that's all that matters.

I took that book everywhere with me and read it so many times that I could nearly recite it whole from cover to cover. Unknown to me then, That would be my foundation class in what was a growing fascination in poetry.

Every single line of that book is so dear to my heart, but the above lines from an unkown author is by far my favourite. And after nearly ten years, I can still remember the words.

I think I loved this book because for one, it came into my life at a time I was at the very end of hopelessness. It had been a gift to my mother and she had in turn given it to me, with the most beautiful inscription on the front page which read, "Dear Ronke, this is to put a smile on your pretty face - with love - mummy."

To date, it's my most cherished book and I would love to share it with all of you. It got me through the most darkest of times and I hope it does the same for you.

If you want to find out where you can get it, check out www.helenexleygiftbooks.com .