I have prominent laughter lines around my mouth and under my cheeks. They are visible when my face is without expression. And when I laugh, my facial creases are on steroids. These lines are a natural sign of aging — I turn 42 in a few weeks. 

I started developing my laughter lines many years ago. I guess that’s because, thankfully, there is no shortage of laughter in my life. Yet as the lines became more noticeable over time, they made me feel less than fab. And as recently as three years ago at age 39, I definitely would have preferred NOT to have them. I couldn’t cover them up and they were only going to get more pronounced as I grew older.  

I asked hubby Greg what he thought of my laughter lines just before I turned 40, and what he said was instrumental to me changing the way I thought about them. He said that facial lines are inevitable and we should expect to get them as we grow older. But that they are natural and they add character to our faces.

From that moment onwards I felt very differently about my laughter lines. I thought more about their origin and what it means to have them.

Lines that are created through the habitual facial expressions of smiling and laughing can’t be bad. On the contrary, their cause cuts to the very core of daily happiness. We all love to laugh. Laughter creates a state of well being that can’t be beat. It is the shortest distance between two people. And a day without laughter is a sad one. 

I’m attracted to people who smile and laugh a lot. I can be completely captivated by a person’s smile, and find the joyful bellow of deep laughter energizing and therapeutic. If laughing causes wrinkles on our faces then so be it. Bring on the laughter and embrace the lines. Love them for being proof that you laughed throughout your life. And I’ll love you even more because of your laughter lines.