When someone regularly repeats stories (not the same stories over and over, but a new story is guaranteed to be heard at least twice), it begins to make me feel as if the conversations I have with this person are not important – this person is only talking to me because I am a warm body. We all repeat stories, and that’s not a big deal, but when it happens regularly to someone about my age, what does that mean? Are conversations with me that forgettable?
We had a pretty good weekend. I caught up with Mike on the Gilmore Girls DVDs on Friday night (for the record, the Gilmore Girls are also good for relieving a bad day), so he promised not to watch any of the rest of them without me. So, for the past two nights, we have been spending time watching the show, gearing up for tomorrow night’s season finale (woo-hoo for smooching! boo to Rory and Dean!).
Yesterday we went to see Mike’s sister and her family. Mike’s niece graduated from kindergarten on Friday night, and we couldn’t make it. As we are the only family on Mike’s sister’s side, we try to show up for as much family stuff as we can, so we made the trip yesterday instead. Our celebratory dinner was at Chuck E. Cheese. Victoria wanted us to go there because Mike and I always win her a lot of tickets on skee ball. We were fine with this, because we have never turned down a game of skee ball.
The best part of the afternoon was before we went to Chuck E. Cheese. For her graduation present, we gave her an origami book with some fun origami paper. I thought it would be fun because she really liked some of the origami animals I gave her (one of my coworkers really likes origami) and she is fairly artistic. At first she did not seem too impressed, but then we showed her how to make different animals and flowers with the paper, and she really got into it. Before we left, she had happily folded about 20 tulips, 5 bunnies, 3 dogs, and a cat. I made a family of penguins and a family of swans. Jacob wanted me to fold him a lion, but I got stuck at step 9 (out of 36). It looked like a paper airplane, but he said, “I like my lion! Will you draw a face on it please?” It’s nice to be 3. Things are much simpler. Anyway, it was fun to spend that time with her and to see that she really did enjoy the present. When we were leaving, she said, “I really like origami, Aunt Kari.” Warm fuzzies all around.
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8 Comments
To your question in the first para: some of us are just bad about remembering who we’ve told the story. I have a set of stock stories that I tell … unfortunately.
To the rest: ahhhhh, innocence.
Yet again, I know how you feel, Kari. I get stories repeated to me a lot! Some of these people’s stories I now tell better than they can.
I liked your beginning question… Peter and I retell stories to each other all the time.
But they aren’t just old stories! There are old stories – those I have heard three or four times from this person. But there are also new stories. I have to hear more than once what happened last weekend or yesterday or what have you. Is there a number of times you are requred to listen before you are allowed to say, “Yeah, you told me. SEVENTEEN times.” hehe.
I SO have a friend that everytime he tells me something and I hear him tell it to someone else I feel so let down in some way. Why do I feel like that? Who says he has to keep it only him and I? I dont know what it is, but I dont like it.
Origami is cool… I need to start folding again…
And some people do like someone to just jabber to… regardless of the intellectual level of what they are babbling… repeated or not.
There’s a reason Eric is defensive of this subject
So, I must confess that I am one of those people who does the repeated new story thing. I think there are two reasons for it…
1. I am definitely a sanguine personality type and prone to be a bit here, there and everywhere often forgetting what I’m doing and even what story I’ve told to whom.
2. Also, I have quite a few close friends who I spend time with in different contexts. Sometimes stories get repeated because I know that one person has heard it, but the other has not. And some get repeated from my own lack of being able to remember already telling said person.
Whatever happens though, I am always open to my friends stopping me from repeating, and God forbid re-repeating!