The BIG, HONEST Answer

Take a quick moment and think about how many times a day you're approached with questions that you KNOW people really don't want the answer to? The mundane "hey, how are you" or "how's it going". Think back to that one excessivel needy friend you had in high school, college, or work that you unabashedly did NOT approach with such questions. Because what followed would be, well, for lack of a better term, exasperating. I had a sorority sister in college who was known to, at every opportunity, hoist unbearable amounts of her own burdens onto your shoulder, ruining what at once had been a perfectly amicable day. I remember loathing that slow motion, panic-filled moment, passing her in the hall or on the sidewalk, making that brief eye contact that forced me to ask the dreaded question- "hey girl, how's it going?", all the while my brain anxiously thinking of reasons I could just rush on by. Aggghhh! The Horror of the 15 minute dialogue that followed making me miss 3 phones calls, be late for class, and basically made my want to shove a pen in my eyeball.



But now, looking back down the retrospective tunnel, wasn't I just a little too harsh? Aren't I being just a tad bit dramatic? Aside from the pencil in eyeball thing, was it really that bad? After all, she was just being honest. How often are we ever honest when someone asks one of those questions?



Being a newlywed, I am incessantly approached with one of those questions that forces me to wonder if the person asking really wants to know the answer. "So, when are you guys going to have a baby?" Let me first preface the rest of this post by saying that I in no way intend to have a child anytime in the near future (i.e., in the next 4 or 5 years). But, REALLY, guys. Do you really want to know something that personal? Lately, I've been rehearsing my answer for the next time I get this awfully annoying question. "Well, Mr. or Mrs. Person Who's This is None of Your Business, we've really been having a lot of sex. All different positions, in different rooms of the house, different times of the day. So who knows? Do you have any suggestions to prevent or encourage conception? Do you want me to call you next time and give you a PLAY BY PLAY?"


Come ON!!!! People just don't understand how PERSONAL of a question that is! Maybe by giving an extremely uncomfortable and personal answer, they would quit asking? Kind of like that experiment where you talk to yourself in strange voices when someone is in the elevator with your....just to see what happens.

Next time someone asks you one of those questions, think about your answer. Be honest for once, overly honest...indulgently, awkwardly honest...take up way too much of their time with your answer and see what kind of results you'll get. After all, honesty is the best policy, right?