Loquacity

Loquacity: the quality of being wordy and talkative

Ever since I started speaking as a child, I have had the urge to talk. Taciturn has never been a word used to describe me. My earliest memories consist of playing with the ultimate tool of talk....a phone! At age three, I gabbed on a plastic baby-blue princess-style phone for hours and at age five graduated to a bigger electronic red-plastic phone.

Ironic that I loathe talking on the phone now - except with a few individuals who bring out my garrulity in full force!! I mostly talk in my head .... or to my old beagle....or whatever is nearby that appears to be listening. I find that I would rather not talk when I detect non-listening cues given off by whoever I speak to. I have also found that most people don't care to hear all the thoughts that whirl constantly through my head, so I revert to talking in my head!

Through the years the best listeners I had the honor to discourse with on a regular basis was a herd of black Angus cows. As a kid, I would scamper up the haystack with delight, knowing an audience would gather upon seeing my arrival. Sure enough, the cows would meander over to the base of the haystack in a haphazard semicircle and gaze up at me adoringly as I began my daily diatribe. They would stand still, with ears cocked forward, and listen. There were always a few that became distracted easily and started chewing their cud and looking around the herd - these were the A.D.D. cows. A quick clap of my hands, and they would swing their heads back around as if surprised I was still there talking and begin to listen again.

I spoke of everything and anything. Sometimes my speech was peppered with anger and I would go on a terrible harangue about the injustices of being the younger sibling...of being required to fill the days with chores and homework. Other times, my speech was salted with sweet songs and sad stories and their big, brown luminous eyes would glisten with tears.

The flock of chickens, on the other hand, were complete failures at listening...they were the mascots for an A.D.D. poster!! Nervous Nellies. I would have to bombast them with gesticulations and jargon filled with tourettes-type tics to win them over...and even then their eyes betrayed them. I have had such discourses with humans....their beady eyes glancing nervously to and from my face as I talk, looking as if they are ready to peck out my eyes.

Listening is an aquired skill that most people do not embody. Thus...the blog craze blazes!! We blog because we teem with thoughts longing to be spoken. And maybe, just maybe, someone....somewhere.... is listening.