Loudly: That's How We Roll

We are a loud family. But the irony of our volume is that each of us thinks the others in the family are MUCH louder than we personally could ever possibly be. As a result, we go around shouting at each other, but then when someone else speaks, we shush them. "You're too loud," is a common refrain around these parts. I really don't notice it unless someone comes to visit and begins to wince as the loud talking commences. Sometimes I realize it when we are out and about and I hear a member of my family in conversation with a non-family member. It goes something like this:


Flag family member: HI! HOW ARE YOU!!!

Friend: unintelligible mumbling

Flag family member: IS THAT RIGHT!! WHAT HAPPENED THEN?

Friend: unintelligible mumbling

Flag family member: HA HA!!!!! THAT'S A GOOD ONE!!!!

You get the picture. We appear to all be hard of hearing or we're making it our business to do that to the rest of the world.

But, as in every other thing in this family, there is always one dissenter. We used to think it was our 6 year old who would be the one quiet Flag as he loved his preschool teacher because among many other attributes, she was gentle and quiet. He's been out of her class for a year now and he still misses her. He once said, "She's just like me and that's why she's my best friend."

But in this house, change is THE constant and we've noticed recently that we've begun to shush our son, so he can't be the dissenter anymore. He's gotten loud, too. We've won him over to the noisy side.

Rest assured though, in this family there is always someone waiting in the wings ready to vie for someone else's title. So now it's Ben the Beagle whose big, sensitive ears must have suffered when he was adopted by this loud family. He's Teddy Roosevelt all over again with his big stick.

BUT DON'T WORRY!! WE'LL CONVERT HIM SOON AND I PROMISE THAT HE WILL GET LOUDER AND LOUDER. AFTER ALL, HE IS A MEMBER OF THIS FAMILY!!