One of our favorite children’s books is a novel by Kate DiCamillo called Because of Winn Dixie. In the story, a lonely yet curious little girl named Opal finds a scraggly stray dog in her small-town grocery store, instantly falls in love with him, and names him Winn Dixie after the name of the store she found him in. While Winn Dixie can’t talk, he has a personality all his own, and there isn’t a page of the story that goes by that doesn’t mention Winn Dixie’s smile.
Every time Opal looks at him, she swears he is actually smiling at her.
Winn Dixie runs into stranger’s yards, makes friends with everybody he sees and ultimately teaches Opal more about trust and friendship than any human could without ever saying a word.
Everything meaningful that happens to Opal that summer happens because of Winn Dixie.
When we really think about that little story, there’s a lot that us adults can learn from it, too.
Sometimes, nothing is more important than a little unconditional love and a big smile. As we head into our weekend, this image we recently took for one of our awesome clients is the perfect reminder of that for us. Happy Friday, everyone!
