\u201cJennifer reads too many library books\u201d wasn\u2019t the only comment my elementary school teachers regularly wrote on my report cards. The other was \u201cJennifer talks too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
I absorbed these comments as failures. But, through the intervening years when these comments resurfaced, I gradually decided what they wrote was not what they meant. One can never read too many library books since reading itself teaches us. Surely, they meant I should give homework more attention.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve also changed my interpretation of \u201ctalking too much.\u201d Probably they meant I talked when I should have listened. That’s probably still true. But, I\u2019ve decided talking is a personality trait, not a failure.<\/p>\n
This understanding came long after the little girl became an adult, and it came from another teacher. When my father died, a professor from my first year in college commented on my propensity to speak up, to challenge thought in class. He said it told him I had been raised in a family that allowed discussion, allowed me to speak even when it disagreed with them. And he saw that as a good thing. What a gift! (I\u2019m sure he understood back then the vast enlightenment 18-year-olds possessed! He also understood sharing this enlightenment was a way for me to grow.)<\/p>\n
I began considering that \u201ctalking too much\u201d could be okay, even useful, perhaps. I have friends and family who are not open about their lives. That\u2019s okay for them. They have a right to be who they are. But I have embraced the belief that I can be myself, and part of that is being open about my life.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a downside. I joke that sometimes I say things that never go through my brain on their way out my mouth. I\u2019m afraid I may–and do–inadvertently hurt someone if I\u2019m careless. I am trying to always think before I speak.<\/p>\n
Given all this, I still had to think through how much I wanted to talk about my recent diagnosis of Stage 1 breast cancer. It was caught early, the outlook is positive and I am well aware of how very fortunate I am. Others have been affected so much more than I. So, no real drama here other than it is the Big C.<\/p>\n
I decided to talk.<\/p>\n
Every woman I meet may hate me because I am going to ask if she\u2019s had her yearly mammogram. So far my early and informal statistics reveal about a half dozen women have reported they\u2019ve gotten a mammogram because I asked. Several others have acknowledged they need to get one.<\/p>\n
Most recently, a young mother stopped by my house, helping her daughter with a door-to-door project. We chatted as we stood on the porch, and I asked her.<\/p>\n
She hesitated and then said, \u201cI think I was supposed to be here today. I got my reminder letter six months ago and set it aside. I\u2019m calling for an appointment Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n
I rest my case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cJennifer reads too many library books\u201d wasn\u2019t the only comment my elementary school teachers regularly wrote on my report cards. The other was \u201cJennifer talks too much.\u201d I absorbed these comments as failures. But, through the intervening years when these comments resurfaced, I gradually decided what they wrote was not what they meant. One can… Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,13,23,27,50,49,20,39,41,43,38,51,9],"class_list":["post-211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-daily-life","tag-lifestyle","tag-biographies","tag-books","tag-breast-cancer","tag-cancer","tag-caring","tag-families","tag-father","tag-health","tag-ideas","tag-mammogram","tag-memoir"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jbowrites.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}