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November 26, 2005
My Thanksgiving...
I observed alot in terms of conversational styles over the course of this "vacation" from Simmons. One of the most prevalent things that I noticed is that everyone loves to tell stories about their family and the crazy things they do on Thanksgiving. For example, the day before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, I went to the orthodontist. (Yes, I do still have braces, and at the rate things are going, I will probably have them for the rest of my life!!) The hygentist spent my entire appointment talking about her family who she would be attending Thanksgiving with. She tried to emlate the conversations they would have, with hysterical results. Similarily, when I visited a few of my friends on Wednesday, they could predict what their Thanksgiving would be like: Uncle Jimmy would make fun of everything Uncle Bob said, Aunt Mindy would tell Cousin Sally she had gained weight, and so on. I think this has a lot to do with language and conversational styles because they are so much a part of who we are.
My grandmother is hearing impaired, but has never felt motivated enough to "improve" her situation. One of my other grandmothers is seeing impaired, and when the two get together, the results are comical. The one who can see, but cannot hear, will yell to communicate something that she sees to the other, while the one who can hear but cannot see will recount the stories that are being told to the one who cannot hear them. Of course, the results are very comical, and leave me and my cousins laughing until until our sides hurt. Still, it is very interesting to observe how we communicate with others, especially those who are very close to us, and how we always seem to fit into predetermined stereotypes.
In terms of my "relationship" with family and friends, things were different, I am not going to lie, but not completely different. As far as my family, things were completely the same, I fought with my sister ten minutes after I arrived home, my little brother and I followed our usual rituals, and conversation ensued as normal.
In high school, I had three people I would call best friends and two I would call very good friends. (Although I have difficulty defining them as such!) Four out of the five go to the same school (along with approximately a quarter of my high school class), and three of them live together. The other lives a floor above them, so she is constantly in their room. Thus, it was difficult for me to see how they have grown even closer while my relationship with them has become weaker. Of course, I talk to all of them all the time, particularly online, but it was difficult to see them laughing at things that I did not understand. I was used to being inside of the jokes, not having them explained to me.
But, we seemed to accept that things were different, that they would never be the same as they were the past few years. We accepted the silences in our conversations and simply celebrated the fact that we were together. Of course, we did talk ALOT. On Tuesday night I slept over in their dorm room, with eight other people and it was so much fun. We were able to catch up and laugh and just have a great time being together, even if our relationship will never be the same.
Although I am having trouble melding my "two lives" together, I know that my friends will always be there for me, even if we're not as strong as we used to be.
Posted by lciscotis at November 26, 2005 11:27 PM
Comments
I really liked the part where you wrote about your current relationship with your friends. As an international student I experience the same thing every summer when I go home. I totally agree with you that it is sometimes hard to mold those two different backgrounds of your life as you transfer back and forth. Great entry Brenna!
Posted by: Zaya at November 27, 2005 05:08 PM
Brenna-- I completely agree with you concerning the mending of "two lives" together. I feel the same way. My mom always says that I am living a "double life". When I come home, I am with people whom I have known my whole life. They are stable and constant whereas, in school, I think of randomness and laughter (and also stress of course!). Excellent entry Brenna! Thanks for sharing part of your life with us!
Posted by: Christina at November 30, 2005 07:30 PM