Friday, June 12, 2009

Chatterboxes.

Whenever I travel, I always meet interesting people. And by "interesting" I mean "fun to make fun of later." I love that God puts these people in my pathway - I think He knows I love a good story and I appreciate that He humors me.

A few years ago, I had to travel to McAllen, Texas to appear at a hearing for work. It was an interesting experience as I had never been to the Valley. My cab driver spoke only Spanish so I was excited to use my Spanish from the airport to hotel. I stayed overnight at a hotel and then caught a cab to the courthouse the next morning. Again, my cab driver did not speak English so I got to speak Spanish to him, as well. I was loving McAllen. I got to the courthouse and found the courtroom where the hearing would be held. The judge came in and began doing docket call. She'd say the name of each case and the lawyers present would stand up and announce ready. They all had very latino names and pronounced them very quickly like the occasional hispanic news reporter does. I was surprised that the court reporter never missed a beat: "Alicia De La Guerra for the defendant" or "Ramon Garcia de la Garza for the plaintiff" or "Anulfo de la Playa del Carmen for the defendant." Ok - the last one I made up but you get the point. I was really impressed with her that she could type all those names with no problem at all! But I was MOST surprised when I stood up and said "Catherine Palmore for the defendant" and she threw up her arms in frustration and told me to slow down.

I'm sorry . . . what?

I tried again, a bit more slowly: "Catherine Palmore for the defendant . . .??" She looked at the me as if she'd given up on me and then looked at the judge for help. For a second I honestly thought I was about to be held in contempt. The whole courtroom was looking at me by that point and I kept replaying the whole thing in my head to see if I had accidentally cussed or something instead of saying my name. Then the judge had me spell it out for her and I was in the clear. Phew . . .

On my flight home, I sat by an "interesting" lady who might be THE most talkative person I've met to date. And that's a lot coming from a Palmore. ANYWAY, I sat down in the seat next to her and the show was on. She took breaths only when necessary for survival: "Hi. How are you? Is this your first time to McAllen? [no pause for an answer] I just moved her not too long ago. I actually come from Cincinnati. I know, I know - I'm a "yankee." [laughs heartily at her own joke]. Have you been to Cincinnati? [no pause for answer] It's a great city. But I do love McAllen. I just got married a few months ago. I know, I know - I'm a little old for getting married, huh? Well, he is just the greatest. He was definitely worth waiting for! We're renting a house right now while we're building. You should see our floorplan! It's unbelievable. We were going to pick one floorplan - I think it was floorplan A or something like that - but then we decided that we really wanted an office and that floorplan didn't have an office. So we went with floorplan C. We are so excited. [noticing the sun shining on my face . . .] Oh! The sun's hitting you right in the eye, isn't it? Let me close the shade here. [distracted by the view . . .] Look at how small the cars are from way up here! I bet this is how God sees us. [laughing heartily at her own joke again] Don't you think? We're just all like a bunch of teeny tiny little bugs from that far away, huh? Have you ever seen the cars look so small? Man, we must be REALLY high up . . ." And it went on like this forEVER, bouncing around from topic to topic. I think I spoke 10 words the whole time! But despite the fact that she was preventing me - a talker - from talking, I enjoyed sitting next to her. She had so much to say and seemed so excited about saying it. And I got to practice some courtesy laughs and got a good story out of it so it wasn't a complete waste. What else can you ask for from a plane ride, right?

I thought of that lady yesterday when my mom sent me this video . . .



She is sooooooooooooooooooooo precious, isn't she?? She is REALLY trying to give him some latest bit of news that she heard recently. I just love it. And part of me wishes that I could have been the person sitting next to her so that I could have been a part of the "conversation."

But I have no doubt that I'll be sitting next to her on a plane in 30 years. And I know I'll hear all about it then.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Well I got this one hot off the press! Funny, funny. And who hasn't had the experience of sitting next to someone like that!

Emma said...

LOL! I had forgotten about both of those stories!! The video is hysterical...think she has a filibuster in her future

The Leuenberger's said...

It amazes me that you remember every word of that conversation enough to type it all out for us...I'm so glad God gave you such a great memory so you could entertain the world!! love it.

steph said...

yet again i wonder why we didn't hang out more ... but then again the universe might not have been able to take it :)