Spending time with your grown children gives you insight into their lives and personalities.
My daughters and I chit chat when we are together. We chatter about the kids, how busy we are, and how we hate grocery shopping.
We prattle, babble, rattle on and blather–I guess I am the one who blathers–about anything and everything. We are interested in each other’s lives, needs, goals, dreams, trials and tribulations.
However, sitting in a room with my son is an entirely different experience.
It is silent! Pure uninterrupted silence.
When someone is in the same room with me and we are absolutely quiet, I suffer extreme pain. My ears ache hoping to hear some sounds, some voices, or even a ticking clock. Digital clocks don’t tick.
When my son does speak, it is usually a grunt, a grumble, a mumble, a groan, a sigh or worse, I get the look. The look says all the above, but with extreme sarcasm.
He mumbles a quick answer about who is playing in the game–I really don’t care–I just want to hear someone speak.
He groans when I start telling him about my day. The purpose of this is to encourage him to tell me about his day. Guess what? It doesn’t work, but I have to keep trying.
He grumbles if there isn’t some ready-made food in the house.
I actually got a response from him the other day. When I told him I was going to write this, he said, “A grunt is an effective form of communication.”
Eight, count them, eight words in a row!
Now, that I think about it, I do know the meaning of his grunts and groans.
They mean, “I don’t feel like talking. I am ignoring you. I want to sit in peace. I am busy doing nothing. It is too much work to make some food for myself, why can’t you do it?”
Maybe he is right, a grunt is an effective form of communication!