Time for another installment of this Wednesday/Sunday night series!
Picking up from last time –
My parents have told me that ever since I was a little girl, I was basically insufferable because I never, ever, ever took anything at face value. Ever.
It was never, “drink your water.” “Okay!”
It was – “But why do I have to drink water?” “But why is it important to be hydrated?” And on and on.
Apparently, even though this was sometimes frustrating for my parents, I guess it was sometimes fun because we did a bunch of little research activities when I was a young girl so they could explain to me why things worked the way they did.
(And I appreciate that they encouraged me to think that way – to want to understand the world around me… Even now I still like understanding logic behind things and how various things in the world work.)
Now, if you don’t mind me saying so, I’ve also been known as a genius (blegh, that doesn’t sound right to say) my whole life. (I’m in Mensa, for real.) You don’t have to be really smart to be curious about the world around you. But adults always thought that me being smart played into me being curious. I just wanted to learn more. No harm, no foul… sort of.
Many people in life want you to take things at face value without asking for explanations. (This, um, let’s say curiosity of mine sometimes makes authority figures love me, because I take a keen interest in what they’re teaching. Sometimes it makes them hate me, because I’m too curious (or challenging or something like that).)
And maybe I should just let things be how they are… but should I? If things really make sense, there are explanations behind them. Are there not?
I don’t want to make anyone’s life hard or miserable. But it’s usually not that hard to explain something – especially when that something is pretty simple. If all I wanted to know was “Does it have to be my power of attorney? Will the person in the waiting room be someone making medical decisions for me in a worst case scenario?” – that should not be an impossible question to answer!
Who knows. Maybe I didn’t phrase it correctly. Maybe the social workers somehow felt as attacked by me as I was by them. But whatever happened, it basically became a verbal fight!
All I wanted to know was why. But instead I got huff, huff, puff, puff. “It’s major surgery. Obviously someone has to be there. ‘Why’ is a ridiculous question. It doesn’t even make sense that you’re asking it.”
If I responded to one of your questions with that kind of non-answer (and judgement), Ms. veteran social worker, would you just be okay with that?
Then we open up basically a whole can of worms when I say I don’t really love visitors in the hospital. They do not like that.
Just for the record, when I say “they” basically anytime in this social worker portion of the story, I really mean “her.” The new girl was nice. The veteran was the one who wasn’t happy (or patient) at all with me.
I’ll pick up here on Wednesday.