In my profession, I’ve had to learn to be an observer, to watch people and the way they speak, the way they look, they way they move, around themselves and around other people — all without them noticing that I do it. It has taught me to be perceptive to the slightest change in their body language, their tone of voice, and even their facial expressions.

But it always comes as a surprise when people tell me what they notice about me, especially when they get down to a more personal level and say things like, “You’re very good at hiding your feelings, you know.”

So it threw me for a loop when I saw this last week, in the WhatsApp group conversation I share with Zuien, Edea, Lynda and Farah:

This, by the way, is the photo in question:

I suppose I had reason to be happy. The Miner was back in town after nine weeks of WhatsApp and telephone conversations, and I was actually able to see him and talk to him without the usual distractions that constantly occupy his time and mind.

So I thought no more of it, until this extremely random conversation I had with Nora just last night:

And I think this may have been the photo in question:

I would have liked the term ‘skinnier’, but I’ll take ‘serene’, ‘happy’ and ‘almost radiant-like’ any day too.