Such Weirdness Doesn't Run in Your Family

[digitS']

Sure, you bore them to tears with gardening but are there other things that fascinate you and that cause other family members' eyes to glaze over?

Nyboy's admission that he owns a 1964 Corvair got me thinking. First of all, I have no idea how a front-wheel drive or a rear-mounted engine work. Don't tell me. I don't want to know! Still, some people can spend years learning about incomprehensible vehicles. I kind of figured out front engine, rear-wheel drive vehicles but it might have just been the timing of my exposure to them. Or, I'm just kidding myself :/.

Both of my adult kids have told me that I have "informed" them of far more than what they would care to hear about local history . . . I don't live where there are very many years of recorded history. Imagine how insufferable I'd be on the East Coast or in the Old World!

I will prattle on to DW, especially when driving somewhere, about something or other and realize that she is NOT listening. Keeping any inflection out of my voice I can ask her what she thinks about "that" and get crickets! Say something completely nonsensical and, crickets again! And, I'm the one who is deaf !

Does this happen to you when you comment briefly on some of your favorite subjects?

Steve

 

[897tgigvib]

chirt chirt


chirt chirt

 

[Carol Dee]

chirt chirt


chirt chirt

Me... prattle on.... Depends on who you ask.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

BORING!

yes, i know how i affect those around me when i get started talking gardening, chickens or other animal facts that probably could only win me a prize on a radio/tv show. i've realized that unless they ask and show an interest in listening, i won't start up the conversation anymore with them.

 

[Jared77]

I actually been stopped at the nursery by customers who apparently overheard me explaining something to my wife or my MIL (who always asks me to go with her to the nursery for some peculiar reason ) and ask me about something else or where would they find _____ and I have to kindly inform them I don't work there. It happens at least a couple times a spring.

One time this little old lady came up to my wife and I as I'm explaining the difference between grandiflora petunias and wave petunias to my wife and MIL, a little old lady comes up and asks where she could find something. I politely tell her I don't work for the nursery but I'd gladly find someone who did. (The lady appeared to be in her 80s and I knew Id find someone faster than she could). As I turn to leave stops me when she asks me why I didn't work at the nursery? And before I can answer she then asks what did I really do for a living? When I told her I was a Paramedic she said "Oh good I was afraid you were wasting your intelligence on being a telemarketer or some such nonsense!" My wife and MIL about died laughing with that one as she shuffled away.

 

[baymule]

Haha! Yes! Yes! and Yes! I must be the most boring person in the world to someone who does not garden, have chickens, dogs or horses! I could care less about going to the mall, shopping for crap I don't need, admiring the ugly style of the season that some demented ding-dong decided that women should be dressed in. Don't give me a gift card to Macy's, give me a gift card to Tractor Supply!

What's really funny, is sometimes people stop in the street to ask me about gardening. They see me in the front yard (where the garden is) and will stop their walk, bicycle or car to ask me questions. At least THEY are intrested in what I say!

That's funny Jared77. I am in Lowes so much that i get asked questions all the time. I usually know where to find whatever they are asking about. It is easier to tell them than to find someone to help them!

 

[digitS']

I was once a history major .

. . then, I decided that there was no future in it.



I'd run the wheels off a time machine !

You know. I am always trying to decipher weather maps. That is probably because I garden but there is a little more to it than that. Nova has a show, Earth From Space - "a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet." Wow! What a lovely and interesting place! I wasn't sure if I should recommend the show to my son . . .

Steve

 

[lesa]

I can tell you for sure, Dh rarely listens to a word I say! He is a good faker though- which is why I am always surprised that he doesn't remember a thing we have discussed!

 

[Ridgerunner]

With certain family members more than others. I've actually got a son and his wife that will occasionally ask me about these but they studied anthropology so maybe they are as weird as I am. The rest don't get excited about this at all.

I worked overseas a fair amount, some in places like London and Copenhagen, some in other parts of Europe, and some in pretty primitive places in Africa and Asia. I worked in Spain not long after Franco died, in an area where village politics were decided by AK-47s, and in a country that was recently part of the former Soviet Union. I did not just visit, I lived there for a while, sometimes in a camp like where the local politics got too exciting, but often on the economy, which means with the local people. I think I have some interesting stories to tell, but most family members are not at all interested. Some just flat out dont believe me when what I tell them does not fit with their preconceived notions about foreigners.

I grew up on a subsistence farm in the ridges of East Tennessee. We used horses, not a tractor, for heavy farm work. This was the time television was just becoming common in most houses and the telephone was still on the party line system. Other than the same son and daughter-in-law and occasionally a sibling that grew up with me, no one is that interested.

Ive learned to not bring any of this up in a conversation with most people, not just family members. Eyes glaze over and the topic quickly gets changed. I dont know how much is my style of storytelling or if they are so wrapped up in their own lives they just dont have an interest. We all have out own passions.

 

[so lucky]

I love the story about the little old lady thinking you worked at the garden center, Jared77. I, too, often find myself answering questions at the garden center. I worked in one for over 10 years, so the inclination to inform the public is strong. It is encouraging, somehow, that people are willing to forge ahead and plant something even tho they don't know beans from horseradish.

In this age of internet information at your fingertips, it amazes me that we can become well versed in so many things, without ever leaving our house. I guess it also amazes me that some (none of us) can remain so uninformed on basic stuff, like nutrition and cooking. Are they going through life with blinders on? Too much facebook time?