Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: RELATIVES (02/15/18)
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TITLE: Diametrically Opposed | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sarah Fehr
02/18/18 -
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My husband is from a family of three girls and three boys, many of whom are on the very intelligent end of the “smarts” spectrum. Incidently, four out of the six are mechanical engineers.
A conversation at my side’s family gatherings looks something like this:
“So how have the kids been lately?”
“Oh man, Annie has been going through this stage of like dumping pretty much anything in sight. I feel like I’m cleaning up after a tornado non-stop!”
“Oh yeah, that is a rough stage. I remember when my living room was absolutely covered with toys every evening and I could hardly stand it! Just hang in there, it won’t last forever.”
“And then the other day I found Chloe sitting on top of the kitchen table playing with a scissors! I felt like the worst mom ever!”
“Haha! I know, isn’t it amazing that any of us actually made it to adulthood?!”
Or:
“So how’s your new job going?”
“It’s going, but I feel incredibly overwhelmed by all the things to learn. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever learn it all.”
“I know, right? New jobs are a bummer because you’re trying to find your place not only with the work itself, but among your coworkers. I totally feel for you! Just give it time.”
Contrast these conversations with a snippet of typical conversation from my husband’s side of the family (sorry, I can only give one example because of the interminability of the conversation:
“The Roman army was really one of the best trained and equipped armies of all time. And they were phenomenal tactitions!”
“Yeah, but their strategic moves left something to be desired! I mean, think about the number of men they lost trying to conquer all the tribes along their periphery!”
“Ok, I’ll give you that, but Julius Ceaser’s Gallic Campaign contains some of the best executed battles in European history.”
“Uh-uh! That’s taking it too far! If you are going to talk about the most successful battles in European history, there’s no way you can overlook things like the Normandy invasion. The magnitude of fire power unleashed in that one attack was unprecedented.”
“Hey, did you know Ted Williams actually served in the air force during WWII?”
“Did he? Now there’s one of the best ball players of all time. Do you know how high his batting average was?"
“If we’re going to discuss baseball players from that era, you can’t leave out Stan Musial. I don’t care how you look at it, Stan-the-Man was one of the all-around best baseball players, and did you know he actually served in the Navy during WW II also?”
And on it goes.
Ah, well. I love my family and my family-in-law both, and it’s fascinating to compare the communication process.
Ironically, all four of us girls married engineers. And...now that I'm thinking about it2, I can’t help but notice they always seem slightly bored at our family gatherings…I wonder why that is?
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