Photography, Collecting Smiles | Vidya’s November Prompt

How to Play with Nature

November Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Collecting Smiles”

Nature meets writer with a stick.

I know Vidya will figure this out right away, but if you haven’t guessed what the photo says, it’s “Collecting Smiles.”

I walked the seawall with friends on the weekend, and we stopped at the beach. I picked up a stick and wrote a few messages, but I saved this one for Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles. This story is dedicated to her for the November prompt.

During our walk, we talked about the struggles and challenges we were dealing with — it was a release to express my emotions. We were empathetic hearing each other’s stories.

After I wrote my first sand letters, my friends wrote their own messages. It was a quiet, reflective, and creative moment for the three of us — bonded by the nature art process, sunshine, friendship, talk, and smiles.

When Vidya told me about the “Collecting Smiles” prompt, it reminded me of a story I published in Snapshots, “Nature’s Happy Faces,” in the spring of 2021. Check out the happy face created by the nature of moss — wow!

Thank you to the beautiful writer who makes countless people on this platform smile, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, for leading this fun “Collecting Smiles” prompt and my lovely co-editors Sandi Parsons and Ellie Jacobson, for their ongoing assistance with the Six Word Photo Story Challenge publication. — Mary Chang Story Writer, creator & editor of SWPSC, nature lover, and fitness enthusiast. If you’d like to be added as a writer, please visit the Submission Guidelines.

Check out these “Collecting Smiles” stories by the editors of SWPSC.