I began experimenting with words when I was two years old and never quit.  When I was four or five years old, I stood on my front porch giving great orations in various languages to cars passing by.  Those were the days that I spoke five languages, fluently---at least I pretended to. (I'm so thankful our porch wasn't too close to the street.)

 

My curious nature for words and everything else was formed while still in the diaper stage.  Instead of my first words in life being the usual, "Mama" or "Dada," I think my first word was "Why?"
 

When I was still young, curious, and impressionable, my parents would say with a sort of exasperated look on their faces, “We’ll pay you a dollar if you'll keep quiet for 30 minutes.”  Oh, my, that was one of the hardest tasks I've had in life, but I endured. Talking was my first passion, but reading was my second. I simply buried my nose in a book, dictionary, encyclopedia, box labels, anything with words, and I could keep quiet easily for 30 minutes.

 

Teachers said I talked too much, but moving me to another seat never helped;  I could talk to anyone.  Even poor grades in “conduct” (also known as talking in class when you’re supposed to be listening) never seemed to affect my dialogs---or monologues if no one was listening.

 

I had such a love of words that I would ask my dad to think up the hardest sentences he could so that I could diagram them. You remember the old diagramming that horrid English teachers used to make people do?  It was a favorite pastime of mine. So maybe I was a wallflower with no social life. Warped mind that I have, though, I later became one of those awful English teachers that hammered diagramming and grammar into her students. 

 

Since I taught both English and speech and drama, I was also one that forced trembling students against their will to give speeches in front of class and audiences.  However, because I managed to make class fun, I soon had almost every speech student volunteering to give speeches and  eagerly enroll in my follow-up class.  For those poor high school students who groaned day after day at learning grammar rules in my English classes, it is only hoped that they went on to become productive, mentally balanced people in the world.

 

A few years after I was married, my husband joked to me one day, “You utter every thought that enters your head.”  Sometimes that’s true if I’m in one of those moods where my mouth runs faster than my brain. However, I began to learn that people who constantly talk and give their opinions, usually leave a trail of slain victims. "Think before you speak" is wise counsel and helps people become better listeners, parents, spouses, friends, companions, and teachers.

 

Thankfully, both for me and the people around me, I not only learned better listening skills as an adult, I also began a life long learning process of “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

 

Words create, destroy, or leave trails of tears wherever they go.

 

Improve relationships with others and yourself. Won't you join me soon on the Word Wardrobe blog site? As soon as it's up, I'll post the link.

 

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