Tell me, Mr. Anderson... what good is a phone call... if you're unable to speak?

So...

I took part in a vow of silence for 24 hrs it was to raise awareness for children of the world in impoverished conditions... interesting idea. Take a vow of silence so that you can raise awareness to those who can't speak for themselves.

But really when it came right down to it I wanted to do it for more then just showing solidarity with Krammit's oldest who also partook, it was also a 'let's see if I can do this' sort of thing as well.

In 24 hrs from noon on Friday until noon on Saturday (today) I was to spend the time without talking. Now let's put this into perspective... if had of happened during the week that would have been easy peasy ... but being on a Friday to a Saturday... that was tough.

I warned the kids that I would be doing this... and I even told my Mum and my sister. They of course laughed and said I wouldn't be able to do it.

Friday was a half day at school for the kids so that meant that they were home just after noon. The Manchild was brought here early by my Mum, who had forgotten about the silence I was doing. It was interesting trying to pass a note to her to tell her what we were doing and why, especially since she didn't have her glasses with her.
Then she dropped us off at the Service Canada Centre where I was taking the Manchild to get his SIN number, we all went so that the Man could do the talking for me. The lady that was filling out the information for us on her computer seemed strangely impressed at the fact that I was partaking in a vow of silence. The Man told her about it so that he could go ahead and answer the questions she needed to ask me to fill out the form. Then we went to lunch at the nearby diner where again I was writing down on a piece of paper what I wanted so that the Man could order it for me.
Have you ever tried to reprimand your children via a pad and pen? Not exactly easy as I tried to do that when we were finishing our lunch and the Man walked over to the bank.
Got home that evening and we decided to cash in on my not being able to talk... did we watch tv? or a movie? something where everyone needed to be quiet? Nope... we decided to play Charades.
Oy vey I tell ya.

I will admit though when at home when I was on the computer I had a notepad open with the font to really big so that I could tap on my desk to get whomevers attention and they could read it off the screen. Thank the Gods for the 22" screen.

I do confess that out of the 24 hrs I only messed up twice and said something. I said the Boychilds' name to get his attention mostly out of habit and without realizing until seeing all the surprised faces. Then the second time I was sitting next to the Man while watching Criminal Minds, and it was coming up to a line in the show that I had seen in a few previews and I had wanted him to hear it, but didn't have time to write it down and didn't even think to hit him on the arm and point at the tv. However, again before I realized I was doing it I was like 'oh hey watch this' to which I turned and looked at him and he was looking at me with my eyebrows raised. I was like... oops.

Most people that know me, know that one thing I can do is get on a good tangent or rant so I think two mistakes out of 24 hrs of constant commentary running through my mind followed by a 'you can't say that', especially a quip or two after something was said, wasn't too shabby in the least.

The time I spent being silent also made me realize that people spend a lot of time talking. I know that might sound weird but really, they do. Whether their just uncomfortable with silence or insecure or what not... People talk, a lot.

I made a quip on my Twitter I believe it was that I was almost at the end of my 24 hours and I think that my first words when done were going to be 'Could you please shut up!'

It gave me a bit of insight as I just sort of sat and watched. Like, even though the woman was asking the Man the questions about me, as soon as she found out that I wouldn't say anything to her, it was like I wasn't there anymore.

Is that what happens? The quiet people don't really get acknowledged?

There's two people that I care for very much in my life that when talking to them or with them I end up making a comment akin to 'Why so quiet?' I don't think I'll ask them that anymore.

What was slightly helpful is I woke up on Friday with a sore throat, not sure why, but it was really sore, so the two times that I did say something I regretted it because it hurt. I still have a sore throat now, and it's accompanied with a sinus headache but I've been talking the latter half of today quietly probably because my head hurts so bad.

I enjoyed my 24 hrs of silence. It gave me a chance to check to see if the stuff that comes out of my mouth on a regular basis is really worth the energy spent on saying it.

Is the world a better place because I make a sarcastic comment? is it a brighter place because I lol'd? does anyone really care when I say something about liking something?

I've come to the conclusion that... no... not really at all.

Onto a completely different topic now.

The Boychild hates it when we go through his toys and tell him it's time to get rid of some. He doesn't want to get rid of them, he loves them they are his and so therefore he doesn't want to get rid of them.

I understand this completely. We don't have much but what we do have we like and want to keep.

However, his ideas are very close to being hoarder-ish.

it dawned on me while I was sitting here a few moments ago that I blame this on Toy Story...

yes... I said that

I blame Walt Disney and Pixar and the movie Toy Story (1, 2 & 3) for giving my child a hoarder mentality.

Ok not completely but it makes sense.

Millions of children watch the Toy Story movies and suddenly don't want to get rid of their toys when they need/have to because they think their toys have feelings and that those feelings will be hurt if he throws them away or donates them to charity.

Makes sense doesn't it?

What's the one thing Woody and the gang are always so worried about throughout those movies, beneath all those adventures and wacky stuff they get into in the movies the one main thing it always comes back to is that they're worried about not being played with again, not seeing their owner ever again, being put away in the attic... see the theme.

Toy Story is feeding into the hoarder mindset.


Crazy isn't it?