I'm sorry about that light-headed moment you had between 8:35 and 8:45 tonight. That little window immediately after dance class ends is always a special one. It's the moment when the non-stop talking begins and then it goes on and on and on and all of the air is sucked out of the universe.
It's a good thing Alexis has to stop talking eventually.
I think? She will stop talking eventually, right? For just a minute?
Somewhere along the fiftieth eleventieth bajillionth word, Alexis was telling me a story about something that happened at school. For what it's worth, I know exactly what she was saying and could even now recite it back verbatim. I know that's true because Alexis' mouth was moving faster than her mind and she forgot what she was saying. In the middle of the story, she fell silent, laughed, and then asked me to remind her what she was saying.
AHEM. GRANDMA, MUCH?
I recited the story back to her, she picked it up, and the words went on and on and on and on and on.
It was right around then that we pulled into Target's parking lot. We had a quick errand to run, but my ears were hurting so I was having trouble focusing. Instead of allowing the words to crush me, I built my own wall with words. I began talking and talking and saying all of the words and I talked over the Big Kid with all of my words and did you know I might be better at saying too much than she is I mean sometimes people actually pay me to talk and I can talk and talk and I know lots of words and on and on.
My non-stop talking on top of her non-stop talking did nothing to deter Alexis. Which, whatever. I was entertaining myself, not looking to suddenly find some silence. We walked through a few aisles, stopping to pick things up, all the while talking and talking and talking.
Just when I was trying to decide if I should buy the little sign that said "I need more boos," an older woman looked at Alexis and me. I fell silent, mostly because I don't believe in torturing the elderly.
In response, the woman smiled. Then she said, "People will tell you that some days you will miss all of the talking, but something tells me you already know that. Good job."
Annnnnnnnnnnd basically I think that woman is the greatest ever and I think maybe tomorrow I need to use some of my excessive words to tell another mom that she's doing a good job because yeah. Those are some of the most powerful words there are, and I've heard a lot of words today.
