What's it like telling a story to your family?

I know what it's like to start a story but I couldn't say I know how to finish one in my family. Not because I don't want to or that I'm bad at story telling, it just turns out that I always end up getting interrupted by a family member and that's the end of that. I am by no means complaining, I actually think it's quite humorous and only until this past weekend did I realize the extent of it. This also isn't a new thing, it has pretty much been an on going battle for as long as I can remember and I am pretty sure it has stemmed from one attempt in particular.

Growing up, being the youngest of 4, it was never easy to get a word in at the dinner table. All I know is that you better have something pretty damn good to say or else you’re just going to be made fun of. My brothers were by no means mean to my sister and I it was just that they were 10 and 8 years older than I am so we weren’t really on the same page in life.

One night I finally got the chance to say what was on my mind and it ultimately became the story I will NEVER live down for the rest of my life. What’s funny is that I am sure I have told a million stories since then and yet this particular one is the one that my family relives every single time we are together. Well that and the string bean story but that’s for another time.

I can't recall how old I was but I do know that I was fairly young, possibly 5 when it finally became my turn. Everyone was talking at the table and I made a few attempts to get a word in. Finally my brother noticed and gave me the floor to talk. I was shocked, this was unexpected and I drew a blank, all memory of what I was going to say had left my 5 year old brain.

Stage fright.

The room was silent; I think even our dog Donut stopped to listen.

So what do I finally say?

"Today, me and Lindsey went down the hill and got snow in our faces"

Continued silence followed by laughter. It was an "I carried a watermelon" moment and I'll never be able to take it back. I kid you not that this story gets brought up every single time we are all around when I want to tell a story. It’s never going to go away.

For the years following it I would get all pissed off but now, to me, its as funny as ever.

So now at age 27 whenever I tell a story they remind me of that one particular time I got to talk, even my brother in law is in on it.

In proving that this story has stuck and to prove that finishing a story is unlikely in my shoes, this past weekend, the family went to Mount Snow, Vermont for a ski weekend. After a long day of skiing we all went back to the house and had a great dinner. During dinner, the conversations were flowing as was the beer and wine. So in learning from past experiences (27 years of family dinners) I just keep a little quiet and just take it all in. If anyone knows my family, you might know that we are a few clowns short of a circus. After a few topics were thrown out there I took a chance to tell a story.

We're all talking and I begin to tell a story and somehow it turns into another story that someone else tells. I brush it off because this is nothing new. Another story comes to mind and yet again it gets turned into another story told by someone else. Around the 4th time this happened I leaned towards my sister who was sitting next to me and said "That's 4"
She looked confused. I said "I have attempted to tell 4 stories and haven't finished 1 of them" We both started hysterically laughing.

The 5th Attempt…no dice.

Finally after the 6th attempt my mom caught on to my sister and I laughing and asked what was going on. This finally got peoples attention and I said that I have attempted to tell 6 stories and never got to finish 1. Now that everyone was aware you would think they would let me tell my stories but no, the situation only became worse.

Now in my eyes, I don’t think I'm a bad storyteller, I could be completely off on that. I do know one thing, I'm a damn good conversation starter.