Look at that smile! :)

We have heard a number of comments over the last month and a half about Jamin's smile. It was without a doubt . . . beautiful. Genetically speaking he was blessed. His teeth were perfectly straight without ever needing braces, they were blindingly white, not too big or too small and, thanks to Jamin's meticulous dental hygiene, without a single cavity (thanks in part to a wonderful family dentist that was kind enough to attend the memorial service in Denver). But, above all else the best part of Jamin's smile was that he knew how to use it. It was hard to catch Jamin without it spread wide across his face. No matter how you were feeling it always had the tendency to brighten a person's day because you knew that behind those brilliant set of teeth was a sincere person who genuinely cared for others.

I don't know if others noticed this but it always cracked me up whenever I had to stand next to Jamin in a picture because someone had once told him that your best smile is when you look like you have just come out of a really good laugh. Well, Jamin latched onto this idea and ran with it so in every photo opportunity that I had with him I would always catch him shaking ever so slightly out of the corner of my eye because he had just figured out a way to make himself chuckle (and of course whenever he laughed his whole body was also involved). The funniest thing though, is that whenever we had family photo shoots Jamin would try his fail proof smiling technique and yet somehow he was always the one person in the picture that had his eyes closed or was unknowingly doing something else that ruined the family portrait. Ha, ha.

One other funny story I will recall in regards to Jamin's smile . . . I mentioned earlier that Jamin had no cavities. Well, that was not entirely true. He apparently did have one cavity but only as of last August. I found out about it when Parker and I went to visit him in Germany. I forget what brought it up in conversation but somehow or another it came out that Jamin had in fact gotten the first cavity of his life. He was of course very upset (it wasn't that he was vain about his perfect set of teeth but he was very proud of them) whereas I on the other hand was smiling on the inside. I had taken care of my teeth just as diligently as he had over all these years and yet had managed to make a few of those extra unwanted trips to the dentist. Finally, my brother was going to feel the wrath of the drill and the humiliation of a numb tounge. However, before I was able to relish in my own delight inwardly for too long, Jamin made a comment that was just so typical of him and had me laughing out loud within an instant. He said "I nearly got a second opinion because I didn't quite believe that it was true. I don't know if I trust those guys." Ha, ha . . . yes Jamin you are human and humans do get cavities every once in awhile - even you!