A Few Words on Brevity

The boyfriend has something that I do not: the gift of brevity.

There is probably a good reason that I have a blog and he doesn’t. He’s great at being succinct and getting exactly the right words out and concisely making his point. His blog would be a few sentences. Mine is…well, you see.

The boyfriend bought a new car. It’s a HUGE step up for him in the car department and he’s reasonably excited about it. He can break that excitement down into about 6 words and then he’s done. It’s his first car payment and he’s apprehensive. He can muster up “I’m getting pretty good and signing away my future income,” but that’s it.

This is not at all how I would approach this. I’m verbose. I’m loud. I’m hyperbolic to a fault sometimes and if you’ve read the blog, I’m also kind of a car geek. As such, I’m excited for him. I’ve been telling anyone who will sit still long enough that he’s getting a new car. I’m telling them what an upgrade it is from what he had. I’m also trying my best to assuage his fears and help him get through the process with minimal jitters.

We met some friends last night and the new car was something everyone was asking about. The boyfriend being him and me being me, I wanted to gush while he was content to say a few words. I wanted to tell everyone how proud I was of the boyfriend (for all of his 21 years) in his fierce bitch negotiation with the salesman and how much he needed to get a new vehicle and how this was just the perfect deal at the perfect time.

However, last night I got a message from a Sr. Gay offering me sage advice: “let the boyfriend tell the Car Story”. And he’s right. It’s the boyfriend’s story to tell. It’s his experience and not mine. I’m a supporting actor. If he wants to use two sentences to describe it, then that’s what he has to say. I’m there to offer car knowledge and a hug when he starts to stress out. That’s it.

By the same token, I’m left with all kinds of thoughts about an Event we went to last night. They range from supportive to irritated. I had sat down to blog about all of that this morning. I’d even written a good page worth when I realized that I probably don’t know enough to talk intelligently about it. I’d be jumping into a discourse that was probably way out of my league. Also, some eloquent words had already been written about it. Incidentally, by the same Sr. Gay who offered the advice last night. He even did in within the span of a few short paragraphs.

And so now I’m looking at the almost page that I’ve written again, when all I was trying to say is that I probably need to learn the value of brevity. Especially, if it’s someone else’s story to tell.