Off the Cuff

A friend was telling me how she met her husband 30-some years ago.  They were at a party for their college debate team, and he was given the challenge of talking for 10 minutes on a topic he drew out of a hat.  Somehow this guy expounded on the wonderful qualities of baked potatoes for ten whole minutes, and he made it interesting and funny!  My friend, who admitted that she preferred carefully researching her topic and speaking from prepared notes, was very impressed with this guy's ability to speak "off the cuff" like that.

Turns out I am married to a guy kinda like that!

This man, too shy to utter more than three syllables out loud when we were in high school, can make up hilarious, engaging stories when given the right audience.  This man, who whispered sarcastic comments to more confident mouthpieces in high school, can jab and jaw with the best of them.  This man, who doesn't need many words to speak truth and conviction, turned out to be a great extemporaneous speaker!

"Daddy, read us another one!"  Tired and with a headache, he can't say no to his little girls, even after fifteen minutes of making up funny stories about Blue and Steve.

 "Let's play Color Detectives!"  "Okay, Steve, but why do you have to wear the same shirt over and over every day?  And when are you going to get a job??"  "Look, Blue!  What color is that?  That's right; it's BROWN poop you piled up in the yard for me.  Thanks a lot, Blue!"  and on and on he goes...along with the giggles.

Back in the day I was a big drama queen.  Probably still am, but I literally was a DRAMA queen, appearing on school, college, and community stages with a minor in theatre.  I even spell theatre the fancy old British way, with an "re" not the boring "er" way.  I consider myself a fairly creative person, but I need to have it written down.  I need my LINES.  I need something to memorize.  Sure, I can ad lib a little, but the crux of it needs to be memorized.  Not so with my husband.  His best material comes off the cuff. 

I wish I could improvise like that!

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."--Matthew : 18-3