Can you understand me now?
by Mary Barrera, Editor-In-Chief

    So many different types of people roam this planet.
    Though each person is unique, except for clones, we seem to fall into general categories in the way we communicate.
     I fall under the Uhhhh category.
     This category can write as if paper was in unlimited supply, but we have trouble when it comes to actually speaking. We can form sentences; we are not catatonic. But, words that flow from our brains to our fingertips bypass our mouths because of a massive brain fart.
     On particularly incoherent days, we may even agree with someone just to get out of having to speak.
     On the flipside is the When-Are-You-Going-to-Stop-Talking category.
     Some members of my family belong to this group. These people take more than 15 minutes to tell a story when it would take most people three. You can spot them in a group because they are the ones moving their lips while others in the group smile and nod their heads.
     Sometimes, when the talker is totally wrapped up in his conversation with himself, you can spot others rolling their eyes or looking at their wrists, wishing they had a watch and an excuse to get away.
     Then there's the What-Did-You-Say category.
     Those in this category either speak too softly to be heard, drop their voices near the end of a sentence or turn away in mid-sentence. The people who can't decide if they want to talk to you or not begin a sentence, turn around and walk away while completing it.
     At the other end of the volume spectrum is the Lower-Your-Voice-People-Across-the-Restaurant-Can-Hear-You category.
     I have family in this category as well. My mother-in-law can stand in a grocery store line and talk all about her medication, new rash and what Martha told Henrietta about Father Bob. Everyone within 20 yards of her conversation hears and knows all.
     My father-in-law does not speak at normal volume levels either; he yells. Not only does he yell, he spits when he yells. The louder he gets, the further the spit flies out of his mouth. One can come away from a conversation with him partially deaf and in need of a shower.
     With so many different types of communicators in this world, it is amazing that anything gets understood.
     Maybe we just roam around only thinking we understand each other.