perfume free
After getting cologne for Christmas for ten straight years, my friend finally said to his parents, who thought they knew him, but didn't, You know I don't wear cologne, right? I have been giving this away to people for all these years.To which his parents responded, You really just give it away?
They didn't know me, he said to me today.
How well do I know the people that are important to me? How hard am I trying? Am I letting myself be known?
12 comments
Great story. I consider myself a pretty open book, but every once in a while something happens that reminds me that not ALL my secrets are out yet. ;)
Wow. That's crazy. I feel a little bad for the parents, but that is pretty weird.
I'm pretty sure I make myself known. . .
I think sometimes parents don't see what they don't want to see. From a child's perspective, my Mom has insisted for years I have always liked certain things, but I keep telling her I don't and haven't. I always think...Don't you know me at all??
Maybe there are parent blinders. As a parent myself, I am sure I wear mine too. Hopefully I know when to take them off.
I more or less got awful gifts from my parents every year, but I could always tell they put a lot of thought into what they were giving me. Seriously, for my birthday, my dad gave me a caulking gun and weather stripping and then made me caulk a leaky window I had. And I kind of love that.
I really think that most of the time, without bad intentions, we give gifts we would like to receive.
Usually if you look at what someone gives you, you know what to give them...that is until they catch on and start giving you things you want--then you have a problem. ;)
Gifts are a hard one. It took my husband a long time to get it. However, he really tries. :)
That is a good question------sometimes I seriously think we THINK people know these things----and they don't. I am sometimes afraid to tell people --if they gave me perfume--I don't wear perfume. I'd say, Oh Thanks, that is such a nice gift. DUH. Then we keep getting the perfume.....spill it I guess (not the perfume, the info)
I don't think we can lie this one all in his dish--if his parents really cared about whether or not he liked his gift of cologne, one would think they would take an experimental sniff once in a while. You know? I think he probably should have spoken up a bit sooner, though. Families! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em!
I think people just assume that other people know what they want. I, however, don't assume that my husband knows what I want in a gift. He constantly buys me software packages or some type of electronic device. I have actually talked to him about it, but it just doesn't sink in! lol
Hm. I think I am a pretty what-you-see-is-what-you-get type of person. That said, there is one thing that DRIVES ME CRAZY about my husband's mom, and she has no idea, because I don't know how to tell her and not embarrass her. She sucks her teeth EVERY time she eats anything. It especially drives me nuts when we're in the car. I seriously want to throttle someone; it bugs me that much. I'm guessing you didn't mean something so superficial, but your post made me think of it :)
LOL. There are SO many times that I have experienced this. We are all an Eternal work in progress on this issue-LISTENIN, OBSERVING-Caring is what it really is. I love the quote in the front of "Howard's End" the book. It is simply this : "Only Connect".
Sometimes I think that our desire to be polite or not offend people close to us contributes to their wrong perception of us. And sometimes our love ones deny the real us because maybe it's easier to accept the person they think we are rather than the person we really are. So we all keep playing a ridiculous game until it becomes unbearable.
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