why can't I be like that old bird

My sister (the one who went back to LA today) sometimes says this to me:  

She:  "What's wrong with you?"   "How come you don't like to talk?"  

Me:  "That's ridiculous.  I like to talk as much as the next guy."

She:  "No you don't, you're laconic".

I admit to luxuriating in times of complete silence.   But that does not mean I don't LIKE to talk.

Today I was explaining to someone why my sister thinks I don't talk and the reason just bubbled up out of the past.   A repressed memory from grade school.  Writing standards.  Do you remember those?   Where you are assigned to write something over and over and over again in an attempt to break you of some offensive behavior?

I held the record at my grade school for having to write standards.  My two most common assignments were as follows:

1.  I was talking, talking, talking, now I'm writing, writing, writing.

2.  A wise old owl sat in an oak, the more he saw the less he spoke, the less he spoke the more he heard.  Why can't I be like that old bird?

I guess some of that finally soaked into my brain after 40+ years.  Mr. Tucker would be so happy. 

Comments

[Violet Cadburry]

Mr. Tucker sounds like a sour old dried-up lime with no juice left to flavor even a drop of vodka. Betcha you called him Mr. F****r.

[jeanette, mistress of longears]

Laconic? Wow, that Mary Ann really knows her vocabulary! Some day, I will tell you the story of how I never had to write for talking in class, but it caught up with me one day in high school. And I though I'd perfected the angelic innocent look...

[Joyce]

Oh that Violet Cadburry gets it right once more! Can't stop laughing at her comment. In fourth grade, Catholic girls boarding school, I had to write the 10 commandments 50 times over the weekend. I cannot for the life of me remember which commandment I broke at age 10, but I did!! Those life lessons stick with you forever.

[Cynthia]

If memory serves, I had to do "I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class..."! Nowadays, for the Moss sisters, it's "I was talking, then I was travelling, now I'm writing in my blog, writing in my journal" and we are reading, reading, loving!

[Caroline]

Hi,old bird. Sometimes I like to be quiet;just think my thoughts and do some listening. Sometimes,though,I can lay a real talking on ya'. Just keep on being your own wise self. Those lessons were hard learned and should be put to use.

[Nancy in Fair Oaks (California)]

I too was a talker in grammar school and consequently had my seat changed frequently. But in the end I just made more friends and didn't learn my lesson like you because I still have to practice self-control when it comes to being a chatter-box (as many of the nuns called me)~

[Jenny]

I always had "talks too much" in the comments on every report card in grade school. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Bundy would move me when I got caught talking. Pretty sure my desk occupied every square inch of that classroom throughout the year! BTW it's my husband that tells me I never talk now. Role reversal I know!

[Susie LaFond]

OMG yes...sounds like me way back in grade school. I was smiling as I read this and smiled even bigger at the end.

[Joan Clarke]

The comments by my grade school teachers went like this: Needs to speak up louder when called on...very shy and hesitant to participate. HA! They should see me now...I have a tendency to talk too much, sometime quite loudly, laugh a lot, have no problem with shyness, never meet a stranger. I don't know what happened after I got out of high school...shyness, quietness took off and never returned.

[Pam]

My 7th grade science teacher criticized me in front of the whole class because I used the whole sheet of paper for my note taking. I wrote in the margins. Said I was cheap. Couldn't I afford paper. To this day I hear his voice if I try to use every bit of something. He should see my artroom today! I keep almost every scrap of fabric and paper thanks to your sister's Remains of the Day class. She gives me permission!

[Michele]

Ah, yes, the not talking thing. My sister-in-law, my travel buddy, goes quiet on me. For days, Hardly says a word. I understand. She lives alone and is not used to talking to people all the time. I, however, live with her brother (who also doesn't talk much!) and I like to be able to chat when I travel. It can be a problem. But mostly it isn't.

And then, just when she begins to want to gab, I go quiet. Never fails!

[Carol]

Violet! How DID you know???? were you in Panama in the mid 1970's? Maybe Mr. Tucker transferred to your school when he left mine?

[Domenico]

Oh my gosh! I love this collage of you...LOVE!

This is just what I needed for today, thank you.

I shall spend the rest of the summer smiling away.

[Chelsy]

Picture #8 of you is my favorite! Although they're all pretty great.