Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Stop

We had a friend—no, not really a friend. More like a person with whom we socialized frequently as a couple. He and his wife, me and mine. It was part of a group of us who all knew each other socially at church and local events. So I often had the opportunity to listen to Dick say something along the line of “Stop me if you’ve already heard this.” The problem was that it wasn’t just once in a while it was multiple times during the evening.

If you tried to interrupt because you had heard it at least twice before from him, he’d roll right through your interruption with the story. He was a large guy with the sort of overwhelming personality that was a caricature of a salesman – ” Now let me show you this little goody!” He used his physical size and force of personality to overwhelm any group he was in.

It took a while for the other side of Dick’s personality to show through the bon homme, laugh-a-minute, amusing anecdote pose. Dick could turn ugly when things didn’t go his way. The sneer and caustic comments could appear with a physically bullying demeanor. Eventually, we made conscious choices to detach from the social engagement. Because he was so active in our church community, we left that. It was simpler than explaining why we never stayed for coffee, didn’t attend dinners, or join church boards and committees.

So, that’s what popped into my mind this morning at the mere mention of ” Stop me if you’ve already heard this one.”