Skip to main content

Shut Your Mouth

 In middle school, I had my first glimpse of self-awareness.  It was only a glimpse because I still rocked the Little House on the Prairie dress (Target would be proud), but it was notable.  I talked too much, and I knew it.  My parents will tell you I was a talker from an early age.  They had to give me talking time-outs so their ears could catch a break.  (Our kids come by it honestly.)  It never occurred to me that it was a problem, however, until middle school.  

In middle school I realized my chattiness was kind of annoying.  I also began to realize it was not endearing me to my friends' parents or my teachers.  But I had a problem - I had things to say, and I couldn't seem to stop myself from saying them.  I'd pray that God would help me not to talk.  He was either trying to teach me self-control or the people in my life patience because I never got laryngitis or the Ariel complex.

I was mildly better at listening more and talking less by high school.  But recently, I've noticed, I'm beginning to relapse.  I've also started losing my filter, which is another problem.  I remember, as a teen, thinking that old women said the worst things.  I always told myself I never wanted to be like that.  I'm fine with being old, but heaven help me, I need a sensor.  The things that come out of my mouth!  And once I start, there are no comas or periods.  I just go.  My poor friends!  Their poor ears!  

This is me, giving you permission to tell me to shut my mouth.  Unless we are related...then you just need to love me for who I am.  

And you can quote me on that.  

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advanced Placement

 Not to brag or anything, but I think we are raising some very advanced children.  At two-years-of-age, our girls have already worked out the art of manipulation and deflection.  It's the antithesis of endearing.   They went missing the other day - the girls did.  That's never a good situation.  They were in the house, and I knew they were in the house, but I couldn't see or hear them.  Silence is the loudest alarm system.  Fischer took action and found them both in my bathroom.   "MOM!" I met them in the hall.  Carter was covered in clumps and blobs of hand cream. "Emi did it," was her unsolicited response.   "No," I told her.  "I think you  did it." That night I got ready for bed and pulled out my one "self-care" splurge - my face cream .  It was in my drawer where I always keep it.  The lid was screwed on.  And it was empty, wiped clean.  "EmmmeerrrrrSON!" Guilty.  They were both ...
2 comments
Read more

I Need A Cinderella

 I like to describe our house as very "lived in."  It sounds better than "dirty."  It is dirty.  And messy.  I clean all day long, but you'd never know.  My friend recently told me she hires a house cleaner.  It sounds dreamy, but it wouldn't work for us.  The cleaner would never be able to leave.  She'd never be done.  It's fine.  It's a phase.  Probably.   We were supposed to have guests for dinner the other week.  I know - it's a bold move inviting people over while we are in this stage of life.  Nonetheless, we did.  I was trying to get ahead of the mess while the kids were in bed and cleaned my floors the night before the dinner party.  The day of the dinner, everybody was sick so we had to postpone.   I decided I wasn't going to let a clean floor go to waste.  I was going to enjoy it for at least a weekend.  The challenge, I told myself, was simply to sweep things up after...
1 comment
Read more

Sheltering in Place

In the past three months Corona Virus has more or less turned the world on its head.  I feel almost guilty for not being more stressed or put out by the whole thing.  We have been extremely fortunate. What we thought was a most impractical move on our part, wound up being a huge blessing.  With our two boys and our two newborns, we moved out of our house with no yard in the city limits and into my parents' house in the country while waiting for our new house to be completed.  The weekend we moved "quarantine," "social distancing," and "shelter in place" became the new mantra of our state.   Moving in with my parents meant ten plus acres of play space and two extra able bodied adults to help even out the score with the four kids.  Win for the St. Clair's!  Unfortunately, my parents are beginning to realize they may have made an error in judgement.   Yesterday, Sawyer gave their cat swimming lessons.   Last week th...
1 comment
Read more