Sorry for Eavesdropping

Over this weekend, I eavesdropped on a few different conversations, so instead of just choosing one, I decided to describe a few different ones.  I went home to Corpus Christi this weekend for the Easter holiday, and because my brother was having his Court of Honor because he became an Eagle Scout, which was really great.  But, my entire family was around all weekend, which led to some great conversations to eavesdrop on.

First of all, let me just say that my family is a bunch of weirdos, and I love it.  They say and do a lot of lame things but we always think it’s hilarious.  This made it really easy to eavesdrop on conversation, because we laugh A LOT.  There are a lot of different personalities, and it makes for a great time.

The first conversation that I eavesdropped on was between my Uncle Tommy and my mom.  As I already mentioned, my brother was becoming an Eagle Scout, so in preparation for that my mom requested letters from various people of importance around the country.  One document that we received was from the Texas Senate. They had made a resolution in honor of my brother.  My mom was showing this document to my uncle, and he thinks that is pretty cool.  My mom then says: “Matthew doesn’t know about it yet, so don’t mention it to him.” Tommy then says, “OH! You should have mentioned that before I texted Matthew about it!” My mom’s smile drops as she says “Oh no…”  My uncle then cracked up laughing.  My uncle enjoys to joke around with people, and that’s what he finds funny.  I never really noticed that in casual conversation with him, but eavesdropping on multiple of his conversations I realized that was what made him laugh.

Another conversation that I eavesdropped on was between my mom, her sister, and her brother (so my aunt and uncle).  They were in the living room, and I was in the kitchen, and I heard them start telling stories about all of the mischief that they got into when they were kids.  These conversations always make them laugh, because I have been involved with many of them throughout the years, but this gave me a new insight into these conversations.  Every story made them laugh, but what really made then crack up was when one of them told a story that the others didn’t remember or know anything about.  For example, my uncle told them that when he was 5, he got caught shoplifting at a 7-11 store.  At first they were dumbfounded because they had never heard that story before, but then they asked him more about the situation.  When they asked him what he had stolen, he told them that he had stolen a giant sweet tart.  When he said that, my mom and aunt cracked up laughing, and laughed for a long time.  This reminiscing on the past paired with the unexpected aspect is what made them laugh in this situation.

In the case of my dad, I overheard a conversation between him and my other uncle.  They were sitting in the living room watching a golf tournament.  Both men are avid golf fans and love to play to game.  They were discussing golf, and got onto the topic of golf handicaps.  Let me just intercede and say that I have absolutely no idea what a golf handicap is, so this conversation really made no sense to me.  Anyways, my dad was making fun of his own terrible handicap, which made both of them laugh.  This was self-deprecating and that is what makes my dad laugh, and made my uncle laugh at him. 

This last conversation was not at home, but in my apartment and happened last night.  I was sitting in my room, working on some homework, and all of a sudden I hear my roommate scream and run out of her room.  I then hear her boyfriend start laughing uproariously at her.  I start to listen, and I figure out that a bug flew by my roommate’s face, which freaked her out, and her boyfriend found that hilarious.

I found it extremely interesting to learn about what makes people laugh when they don’t realize that anyone else is listening.  I felt really weird listening in to other people’s conversations, but it was a great insight to humor.