My Little Teacher

I want to share a cool lesson I learned this week from Paula. I always grew up a very shy person and struggled to speak my mind. Paula obviously does not have this problem and has taught me well over the years to speak up for myself. Every once in a while though, I don't speak up still. Don't you worry, though, Paula takes good care of me. She also reminds me that people tend to be a lot more kind and understanding than I think they will be.

I have this group of friends and we love watching old movies. When I say old, this includes silent films as well. Our most recent film was a Jimmy Stewart film called The Stratton Story. It is a true story about a baseball player. Well at one point in the movie, there was a surgery going on. Back in the day surgeries were a little different than they are now, so my intelligent friends got into a discussion about penicillin. It got rather involved and it got to a point where I couldn't hear the movie. Those who had seen it before probably didn't mind, but I hadn't seen it and wanted to keep up.

So I leaned closer and was focused on trying to understand before Paula finally gave up and chewed them out. Her incoherent babble got all of their attention before she finally yelled, "SHHHH!" This, of course, gave everyone a good laugh. Also, for the record, that was a new one. She has never shushed anyone before this, but it was amazing how quickly she was able to get results!

The one I normally call a diva sure taught everyone a lesson that night. My friends learned not to talk during movies or Paula will rip them a new one, and I learned that people are willing to listen when chastised in love. No one got their feelings hurt, yet no one kept talking. Sometimes, I need this reminder.