Expressions say 1000 words

I know I'm not a good liar. Fortunately, I'm not in a career where that comes up [and in case you're wondering how that can be when I work in a cancer hospital, the answer is I either tell the truth or tell the patient to ask their doctors] and hopefully the people who want to be flattered don't talk to me. Actually, I usually hope that I'm not called upon to say anything.
Turns out that's not enough. I am finally beginning to understand that I have an expressive face.

It helps that various someones have told me that 5 or 6 times.
[sometimes I can be dense. Or just inattentive.]

I'm pretty sure some friends mentioned it to me in college. I know some of my co-workers have told me...usually they burst out laughing and say "your face!" and I'm assuming that they aren't talking about its general appearance. Plus there is this janitor who calls me the lady of a thousand faces; I think he often catches me when I'm frustrated with something on my computer, so apparently I have many variations of expressing irritation.
Ooh, also there was this one time when we had a staff meeting about our new uniforms (solid black. white or red or black stitching. no patterns.) as chosen by maybe 50 people who represented the 1000+ employees from various units. Our unit director/boss said it was chosen democratically, then opened up for comments. I didn't say A THING, but I must have looked suspicious because she asked if I had something to say. As I mentioned, I'm not good at lying, so I said it was NOT a democracy, but an oligarchy with apparently morbid views on appearance, and that the policy was ridiculous. This caused the whole meeting to fall apart....
But somehow didn't get me to understand the unique ways facial muscles can convey meaning.

I think what really cemented the idea into my self-image are two experiences from this past week.

the toe. poor thing.

Firstly, I dropped my laptop on one. hapless. toe. Since the floor is wood, that left zero give to absorb the impact. I didn't say anything, but I did sit down right where I was and, according to my husband who had witnessed the event, make a lot of "interesting faces."

Secondly, I gave a talk in my church today. Mark did too; people usually speak in couples [as in married couples. do not confuse with couplets. that would be memorable, though]. Anyway, someone from the congregation stopped us after church and thanked us for our addresses, then noted that we both have really different speaking styles [at which point I thought to myself, "yeah, Mark's way more comfortable with public speaking than me"]. Then the guy told me "You have really expressive eyes. I liked watching them."

Complimentary...creepy...not sure, but definitely informative. Especially considering he didn't know I existed beforehand, so the eyes must be my most defining feature.

I have got to watch my face.