A Misunderstanding

Was talking to a girlfriend the other day over the phone.

Being a new mummy myself, and my girlfriend being an experienced mummy (her darling daughter is 10 months old), the topic does not stray far away from moo-mie-hood.

She said that she and her husband would like to visit me & baby at home. I say, ok.

My babe is 4.7kg @ birth which has shocked many people.

So I asked jokingly if she told her hubby how big he (i.e. my babe) is.

And she said, “Ha? No lah!”

And I said, “Why not?”

And she said, “Err… why would I tell him something like that?”

Then I was like, “Err… ok.”

I don’t know why… but suddenly it occured to me that she thought that I asked her a totally different question!

Well, I think it is common knowledge that for a mummy that nurses her baby, a certain part of her body will become quite big… so… Somehow, perhaps due to the static in the phone, or she heard me wrongly, or I am not sure how… she thought I asked her if she told her hubby that my b****ts are big.

Hence, that totally explains her reaction.

So I asked her… “Err, why do you think I would ask if you told your hubby such a thing?”

Then she replied, “I don’t know. I thought it was weird too.”

I mean if the situation was reversed, I too would be too stunned to react.

Hence, fortunately, I managed to clear the air in time. Luckily for me, I noticed that there was something amissed from the way she reacted.

I mean, this is really no big deal, as we have been friends for so long. So even though she thought that I really asked her what she thought I asked, I don’t think it will affect our friendship seriously, as my ‘emotional bank account’ with her is positive.

This incident just reminds me how important it is that we communicate effectively with our partners. Sometimes we might think that our partner understood what we said, or we thought that we have conveyed our message across. But the truth is, our partner might have misunderstood us.

Similarly with matchmaking. I always tell our clients that we do try our best to make use of the first consultation to know more about their profile, their dating preferences and their personality. But what they tell us, and what we understand might be different. Hence, it takes some refinement from subsequent communication to zero in on the right matches.

I think the most important lesson that I learnt from this incident is that:

“When in doubt, always ask and clear the air.”

Relationships be it… love, friendship or family are known to have disintegrated with too many misunderstandings piling up through the years…

Maybe you might appear stupid for asking something really apparent. But it is better to appear silly than to leave things hanging in the air.

Merry Christmas, my dear readers!

Popularity: 5% [?]