Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Silence

There are times when silence is golden. Three o'clock in the morning when you are pacing the floor with a colicky baby and he finally falls asleep, yep golden. Or after 10 pm, when you have 5 children and they have all gone to bed, on pretty much any given day. Perhaps the car ride home after a noisy basketball gym in a crowded and sweaty gym. Or my personal favorite, when you have earned the right to say "I told you so", but you don't, because you know and you know your spouse knows that you have earned that right and just a smile says it all. Yep, that is golden.

Far more often though, talking is much more valuable. Suppose I tell my friend that I had a meltdown, kicked the dog, threw the kids out on the curb, and locked my husband in the basement, (or at least wanted to) would I want the response to be silence?

Silence at that moment would be a condemnation. The best thing my friend could do is talk to me. Maybe she would say, "I've had days like that too." Ah, sweet relief!

That actually happened to one of my friends and I recently. We both had a "shove hubby down the basement stairs" kind of day. Talking about it and knowing we were not alone was the best kind of therapy.

So if silence is golden, talk is platinum.

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