They were sitting there quietly around the table when I walked in. The family reunion that is held on Labor Day every year is not a time for quietness or sitting as far as I am concerned. I sashayed into the room, swung my hands up over my head, and loudly said, "I'm here now. The party may begin."
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Our cousin is a quiet man, but I wouldn't call him shy. He's reserved and probably won't make the first conversational move, but he'll talk, oh, he'll talk - if you talk first. He's moving across the country to go to graduate school and the whole family is astir. Maybe he'll meet a girl like you, they say to me. Like me? You know, an extrovert to bring him out of his shell.
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It is a strange world I live in. I would not consider myself an extrovert - quite the opposite, you know. I need to be alone and in the quiet to energize and refresh. But others see me as different, they see me as fearless, as open, as sassy, as easygoing - as different from how I see myself as possible.
It is the comparison with my husband that brings them to say I am outgoing. I have no frame of comparison about what he was like around his family before I came along, but they all say he is different - lighter and happier. I hope that is true. I hope he is happier.
I hope, too, that someday I can be like they think I am.
hmmm wow, good question. Maybe we also present ourselves differently behind closed doors too! Only those who live with us daily can really see us! or maybe, you're better at it then you think you are!
ReplyDeleteSo sweet what your husband's family says about your influence on him :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I get the same thing sometimes... people think I'm way more outgoing than I view myself.
xoxox,
CC
I am about 50/50 extrovert and introvert. I do like being around people...sometimes even being the center of attention. That said, I also am quite introspective. I like to think things over, to decompress after being crowds.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to hear what other people think of you, isn't it? As you pointed out, sometimes it's quite different from the way we see ourselves.
stephanie@metropolitanmama.net