MTTMB Series: "You Talk Too Much"

"You just talk too much" truer words have never been spoken regarding me. It's no family secret buried in the closet, I am a talker who loves to talk. Apparently, I am told this gift of gab comes honestly from both sides of the family. Often my Dad would say, "You talk as much as my Aunt Eloise" who apparently had the gift of gab.

Two weeks ago in Hershey on a Sunday evening. I was cruising the town with A2 and AB after a slice of delicious Reese's Peanut Butter Pie at the Hotel Hershey ( too die for, a must have if you go to Hershey), sorry I got sidetracked.

Anyhoo, We stopped at a stoplight when I notice a  Dad leaning out the window of his Suburban telling me to roll down the window. I noticed his family inside and quickly remembered I was on the east coast, not the west coast where I would NEVER roll my window down for a stranger.

I roll the window down much to the shock of AB and A2...they weren't thrilled and wondered what I was doing. The guy leans out " Hey, do youse' know where there's a Wahlmat around here?" Pulling from my freakish in-built GPS, photographic memory I remembered getting lost and seeing a shopping center the day before. " Sure, I think there is one down the road a bit" to which he replies " Is it off I-133?" I can't remember but know it is in the direction of our hotel. Since that is where we are headed, I say " I don't know but you can just follow me." A2 and AB's jaws hit the floor and the gentleman says, "Wait a minute, are youse from Pennslyvania? I stopped you because you have PA plates on your car." to which I reply, " No we aren't"

He laughs a hearty laugh and says " Hey, I'm from Jersey maybe I can help youse then" which made us all laugh hysterically. He thanks me and almost takes off on the red because he was laughing. I roll up the windows and turn to see A2 and AB gaping at me. AB says, " Julie, you will talk to ANYONE" and A2 replies she was scared when I rolled the window down. They both chatted on and on about how I would talk to anyone.

I told them, "It's the east coast and people talk to each other. Plus, I was raised by a bunch of mid-westerner's who would talk to anyone." I suddenly realize, I have become my Gramie!

I remember spending hours in the beauty shop with her gabbing with her hairdresser Debbie or cringing in the VONS checkout line while she chatted up the person in front of her.

It also doesn't help that I was the first grandchild. I was sat in the center of the table to "hold court" while my grandparents, aunts and uncles chatted at me. First thing when walking into my grandpa and grandma's house was to sit at the table and fill them in. We could sit and chat for hours. People, I may not have been born this way but I was trained this way.

There are very few times in life that I am ever at a loss for words. I have grown quieter with age and marriage. I am married to a quiet person, raising a quiet person and have learned that sometimes silence is golden.

Everytime I hear this song, I just laugh and know it is true. There is only one person in the world that can out talk me and that is my cousin Brianne. We both talk too much. This song does always take me back to some great memories and always makes me laugh.




That being said, I may be a talker but I also am known as "The vault" because of my talking ability and memory system, I am a really good secret keeper. People know they can call me to listen, I will listen, talk it out and file it away. If they need later, I can recall it but if not, I just file it away and leave it there. I actually can remain silent since I have lots to talk about myself anyways.

Proud to be a talker who loves to talk. Being friendly has served me well and brought me many a friend in life. There is nothing I dislike more than a unfriendly person who doesn't at least acknowledge people. I a married to a quiet person and friends with many quiet people. I know the difference between the two, there is a difference.

There is no moral to this one, I just wanted to talk about it. Now you see why I love to blog, text and tweet so much! It's another form of talking. I actually have given up my telephone habit in exchange for those forms of talking. Sometimes those forms can bring silence to those around me while allowing me to still talk.

"You Just Talk, You Talk too Much"

Oh how I love the sound of my own voice, this isn't actually true. Some may think it is true by the way I talk and jabber on incessantly. I suppose that I have always loved to talk from a very young age. This may be because I was the first grandchild and niece, so they would put me in the center of the table and let me hold court. Rarely, if ever at I am a loss for words.

My parents aren't big talkers, they say I inherited the trait from my grandfathers family two of his sisters namely. Of course, my Gramie loved to talk even more than I do frequently chatting up strangers in the grocery store line. How she loved going to the beauty shop for her weekly chat session with Debbie.

Very often, she would have me play this game. She would give me her hand held mirror and tell me to pretend I was walking on the ceiling. It would keep me amused for quite some time and always fascinated me. I figured out this morning, she probably did that to keep me quiet and give herself a break.

One year in school, I was forced to sit facing the wall or a filing cabinet for half of the year. A young student teacher couldn't handle my jabbering and I wore her weary. I didn't mind because that let me be in my own land of imagination alas that is a story for another time.

My cousin Brianne came along and rivals me in the talking department. She would ( and probably still does) go to sleep talking and wake up talking. We both tend to be very loud when talking to one another and often our voices resemble a loud shouting on the phone.

Oh the telephone, how I have loved thee. Since I was about 12 years old, I have had long telephone conversations almost daily. I used to come home from school and call friends after doing my homework and spend hours on the phone. This carried over into my adult life.

When I moved away from my family and friends, the phone was my lifeline. I called my grandmothers and mother everyday for probably six months until I made new friends. One of my favorite antidotes to share is that my Grandma Brown taught me to make a whole Thanksgiving dinner over the phone. Even my Grandpa who was a rather quiet man would chat with me on the phone.

As a stay at home mom with young children who are homeschooled, I often spent hours on the phone talking to other moms. This was my life line of sorts for many, many years. It provided adult interaction while my husband was at work.

Since my grandparents are gone, I talk to my Dad on the phone at least four to five times a week. He gets anxious when I don't blog, Facebook or call him. Suddenly he thinks there must be something wrong with me!

Since Marty has been well, I spend very little time on the phone. Conner has inherited his momma's tongue and often chatters me ear off all day long. I now am the teach trying to focus the student and stop him from talking. I am the person handing him the mirror to go play a game for a moment of silence.

Marty will come home and usually he asks, " Who did you talk to today?"  and I answer, "Nobody" and he looks at me as if I have grown another head. I just have little time with exercise, teaching, and chores to talk on the phone. Plus I have been reading Anne of Green Gables aloud to the kids and teaching, that is a lot of talking time.

 I recently spent a week calling some of my long lost phone pals and catching up with them. I had to explain that its nothing personal, I am just busy and actually do miss them. Twitter and Facebook help provide the much needed adult interaction. I can easily send off a missive from my phone and go about my daily routine.

Sometimes change is a good thing, I think in this case it has been a bit of both. Of course, with my constant blogging, Facebooking and Tweeting there isn't much end to the talking. Now I talk in the written word instead of out loud. Sometimes its nice not to hear my own voice.

A/N Thank goodness Elizabeth has inherited her father's quiet gene. Sometimes if Conner is gone and we are all home alone the house is very silent.