Not knowing what I know - Shiny Brites

Just a moment ago, was reminded of once again NOT knowing what I thought I knew.  Or, what I thought I knew turned out to be oh so very wrong!

For years, Mom waxed rhapsodic about shiny bright ornaments.  We even have it on audio tape - "A Christmas tree isn't a Christmas tree without shiny brights!"

For the last few years of her life, I set aside some of the older ornaments - never the treasures, but the ones that seemed of middling interest - in favor of the shiny bright reds & greens, blues & silvers.

Well, in doing a legacy project posting, discovered - to my chagrin & hapless horror - that for all these years, my understanding of what Mom was sharing was utterly completely totally WRONG! And the ornaments I so carefully set aside to NOT use were the very ones she so dearly loved & treasured.  And, being Mom, she didn't say a peep when I'd decorate yet another Christmas tree with only a few of her very dearly beloved Shiny Brite ornaments.

She wasn't describing them, she was identifying them.  By their brand name, which she knew as well as I know Kleenex or Pledge.  They were the bells, the houses, the round ones with bands of color.  NOT the solid shiny bright ones, mere new comers to the true collection.

How many other times, then & now, do I think I know what someone is saying without a clue that I'm actually totally off base?  My assumption was that I knew what she was describing.  Did I once ask her to describe them to me more fully?  Never even occurred to me.  How many times in who many conversations with her would I have been given invaluable information awareness insight if only I'd asked for more details, for a greater description of what she was discussing?  

 

I pass this lesson along for all of us to hold onto, my gift this Christmas season - even when you're sure you know what someone is talking about or describing, mentally step back a pace & ask for more details.  

Alas, there are those few who take a question as interrogation, rather than interest.  Two of my sibs are that way.  But most folks are not.  Most will take a question asking for more description or background as showing interest, as being curious for more.  

Whenever you're fairly sure you know what a person is describing or talking about, just remember me & Shiny Brite ornaments.  What we hear isn't always what the person is saying.  Delve just a tad deeper.  99% of the time, you'll learn more, appreciate more, understand more.  And you won't keep the ornaments that really matter tucked away in their boxes.