My husband is a man of little words but he is a man of many looks.  Darrel has certain looks he reserves only for me.  Some so subtle he can deny that it’s even a look.  He doesn’t seem to know what his face is doing because every time I ask him why he is looking at me like that, he asks, “Like what?” For instance, when I found his secret stash of Little Debbie cakes hidden high in the pantry, he gave me his ‘incredulous’ look, head pulled back, slightly turned, and mouth slightly open looking shocked as if Little Debbie herself had put them there.

He has a ‘something is amiss’ look he uses when he tries to blame a mess on the grand-children; I remind him they haven’t been here in a while: that’s a head scratch, look down at the mess, and look back up at me look. 

When asked why he doesn’t replace the toilet paper roll or put things back where they belong so we both can find them, he gives a look of ‘deep contemplation’ with an arm across his belly and pointer finger on his cheek.

He has an ‘are you done yet’ look: his eyes are on me, but his head is turned towards his escape route.

And on those rare occasions that I call him by his full government name, the one his momma gave him, and announce that we need to talk: there is his ‘total freeze and don’t look at her’ look.  Maybe he doesn’t realize I can still see him even if he doesn’t move.

Darrel has a ‘told you so’ look he joyfully uses when I’m wrong about something, which tends to be more often than I’d like to admit. This look of his I call the ‘duck lip, shake of the head’ look.  He has a similar ‘pleased as punch’ look he also uses often.  Like when I’m running around the house looking for my eyeglasses that I’m already wearing.  Or the time I blamed the missing remote on a grandbaby but I had made up the bed with it under the covers (sorry Ezra and Zola.) 

His look of ‘utter disbelief’ involves a combination of head shakes, fast eye blinks, hands coming up to spread out, and face twisted into a question mark.  But you guys, it wasn’t my fault; loud screams came out when I saw a 2-foot centipede in the sink.  Darrel moved so fast he almost flipped over the chair; all he could find was a dead, inch long, centipede. Maybe the one I saw got away! 

The most serious look that he gives me is his ‘are you kidding me’ aka ‘The Darrel May.’  This one is special -- a short stare, eyebrows furrowed, a slow blink, and a slow-motion look away ‘be gone’ look.  This one he reserves for those times he is watching a game, taking a nap or just doesn’t want to be bothered and I want to talk to him about something really important, like what color we should paint the room next year. (That particular look of his is my cue to exit stage right! LOL)

These are just some of my darling husband’s looks that I’m able to catch.  There are times when I’m walking away from him and I can feel the slow burn of a look on the back of my head, but when I turn around real fast to catch him, there he is watching me.  Then he smiles and says “Hey honey.”  Aha!  I know that he knows that I know that he gave me a look just then, so I smile back sweetly and say “Why did you look at me like that?” and without skipping a beat Darrel asks “Like what?”

Amanda