Motormouth

      Several people I know have a skewered view of themselves. How they perceive their personalities and how others view them, do not match. I feel I have a pretty good grasp on others perceptions of my true nature. Motormouth, was the descriptive title of an essay my freind wrote about me. It describes me to a tee.

     I must admit--I believe it to be genetics. It started before birth. My mother had me by C- section. It was a saddle- block, as they called it. Which meant she was awake during my delivery. The medical personnel put a curtain up in front of my mother's face during the surgery. As the doctor was working on her, she heard a scream. She asked the doctor what gender the baby was? He replied that he did not know yet, he did not have it all the way out yet. My parent often reminded me that I was making noise before I was even born.

     My brother teased me when we were growing up. One of his favorite lines was,
     " Therese, when you open your mouth, your whole body disappears. "
     In my defense, I was a skinny kid.
Teachers tried various forms of punishment to curtail the never ending prattle that issued forth from my mouth. None were very effective. One teacher asked,
     " Therese, why do you talk so much?"
     I simply replied, "cause I have a lot to say."

     Now everyone, is not a hundred percent anything, I have my quiet contemplative moments. In fact, I relish private and tranquil, alone time. But, reputations follow you. If I am trying to be respectfully silent during others disortations, someone always asks me if I'm feeling okay.
     "Therese, are you sick," they might query?

     It's a good thing I was born in the Western culture, where we believe, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease."