Sunday, January 2, 2011

we laugh just a little too loud

I feel like if you're going to make a blog that isn't about your kids or your family, you should at least come up with something out of the box. Out of the box in terms of making it something that if you weren't you, you'd want to read. So for fun... I want to discuss my love of people and my love of talking. Why? Well, they're both really important who I am.

I am just one of those people who just loves to observe people. Maybe I stare a little too long. When I was a kid I was constantly being told off for staring at passers by and always trying to stick my nose in other people's business. I love knowing everything about people, no matter how significant or insignificant they are in my day to day life. This is often credited as a bad trait but I embrace it.

My mom comes from a small town where I know a few people in person but know all the gossip in town, even about people I will likely never meet. And for some reason I just love being in the loop. I'll have to steal a line from Carrie Bradshaw but I can't help but wonder if all people are like that but society frowns upon "gossip" and hearsay, that we pretend to have no interest. "I'm not getting involved" "It's none of my business" "I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you, but..." "You can't tell so and so I told you because I don't want to be involved.."- but in reality, I feel like more often than not we feel like we have the right to know everything. More often than not, I have friends tell me "I don't want to get involved" and then turn around and say "So I heard about so and so, but I didn't get the full scoop" expecting someone else (who's also trying to pretend they're impartial) to fill them in. I mean really, we're all guilty of gossip that I don't get why we don't embrace it and take it for what it is. Talk. People are always going to talk and as a wise lady once told me (okay it was Bonnie Raitt) why not give them something to talk about.

Talking is probably my favourite past time. I can talk to pretty much anyone about anything. I don't usually find it awkward and I'm the first to strike up a conversation with a stranger. I often talk a little too loud too. But regardless, if you need to know one thing about me, it's that I love to talk. I love to be heard but more importantly I love hearing what people have to say. I am one of those people who will ask every question in the book before I let an awkward pause go by. In fact I speak especially quickly to avoid awkward pauses and lulls in conversations. This isn't always to my advantage.

My grandparents are getting older and they ALL make the same comment whenever we speak "the older we get, the faster you speak and the less we understand you" I have to kick myself to remember to speak slowly and clearly. I mean if you think about it, grandparents have seen and heard a lot of things. The wealth of knowledge they share is priceless. The least I could do is speak slowly and repeat whatever it is I'm saying 10 times with patience. Old ears and tired minds aren't always ready to run a mile a minute. I think this is where our generation gap is most obvious. I always feel like I'm in a rush to be everywhere and no where all at once.

I could really take a lesson or two in stopping to catch my breath.



Excuse the raunchy 90's music video but it's the song of my childhood and it fits.

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