Friend’s Picture Worth 1,000 Smiles

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Friend’s Picture is

Worth 1,000 smiles

In the late 1960s, World Tennis Magazine held a contest offering $100 to any of its readers who sent in a photograph of Ken Rosewall where his knees were not bent in textbook form while hitting a low ball.

The magazine might as well have offered prize money for a picture of a man walking on the moon. Neil Armstrong eventually made such a photo a reality in 1969, but it seems no image of the great Australian stiff-leggedly striking a tennis ball was ever snapped.

I bring this up because a similar contest could be held offering $100 (safe from risk of payment) for a smileless photograph of my friend Mikey, who lived four rooms down the dorm hallway our freshman year in college.

Every oddly tinted Kodachrome picture of Mikey from those days shows him wearing a smile that looks like it is his 21st birthday. Nothing has changed in the ensuing four decades. His ever-present joyous grin, now captured digitally, remains as wide as a tennis court.

I wish you could see Mikey’s smile, most especially when he is with one of his grandkids – you almost need to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from the glint.

I dare say it is possible to hear Mikey’s smile in a conversation over the phone. Earlier this week, I could even sense his smile in a text. This was truly remarkable because he texted me from the Emergency Room…

…where he was a patient…

…with COVOID-19.

Mikey was admitted to the E.R. with a high fever, coughing, aches that felt like he had been hit by a bus, confusion and low blood pressure. On top of all that, he is high-risk with only one kidney.

Despite being in the vortex of a frightening health storm, Mikey wanted to share some sunshine with me. His words from the E.R. read in part: “Everyone that picked up a meal was soooo appreciative, saying thanks for looking out for our community. Many other restaurants are also giving away meals. … People care.”

Mikey cares in spades. Despite nervously waiting for his coronavirus test result to come back, he was focused on those who had to evacuate their homes due to the 600-plus wildfires raging throughout Northern California.

Specifically, he was worried about fellow citizens in the Bay Area where he lives and the Napa Valley where he owns a restaurant. Hence, his Osprey Seafood gave free meals to anyone who was displaced by the fires. It also donated many pounds of shrimp salad to the local Salvation Army.

Typically, Mikey humbly credited his manager and staff for embracing the effort to extend helping hands: “This is just what we do for each other in Napa. Through earthquakes, fires and flooding, Napa rises for each other.”

His words of commendation naturally reminded me of how Ventura County’s residents similarly rose up for each other during, and after, the Thomas Fire.

Like Mikey’s smile, the recent unselfishness displayed by Osprey Seafood and staff is their normal. For many years, they have donated to firefighters during firestorms.

“I am most proud of our community for coming together time and again,” Mikey added and again I proudly thought of our local community.

Thinking of Mikey, or looking at a smiling photo of him – with long, ginger curls of the past or shorter, graying hair now – I find it impossible not to break into a grin myself. He’s the Typhoid Mary of smiles by making them contagious.

So you can imagine my beaming face upon learning my dear friend is back home recuperating.

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …