\u23f1 ~4 min reading<\/p>\n\n\n
Marinka loved to talk. Her words flowed like a stream that would soon turn into a river \u2014 fast, cheerful, and never stopping. She could talk about anything: about a new pencil with glitter, about a dream with a pink raccoon, about how her grandmother baked cheesecakes with raisins yesterday.<\/p>\n\n
It was difficult with only one person. Listening to the others.<\/p>\n\n
When her friends were talking, Marinka would interrupt. Not out of spite. She just had an idea of her own, and it was so interesting that she couldn't keep quiet.<\/p>\n\n
"And yesterday I..." Irynka began.<\/p>\n\n
"And I was at the zoo!" Marinka picked up. "There was a giraffe there, it was chewing on a branch!"<\/p>\n\n
Irynka sighed and closed her story. Marinka didn't notice.<\/p>\n\n
Once they were sitting in the yard - Marinka, Irynka and Sofiyka. There were yellow chestnuts on the bench - Sofiyka was picking them in her palm. Irynka wanted to tell me something important.<\/p>\n\n
"Girls, yesterday I..." Irynka began quietly.<\/p>\n\n
"And I found a pink button!" Marinka jumped up. "Look, there it is! It's like a petal!"<\/p>\n\n
Irynka pursed her lips. She put the chestnut back on the bench. She stood up.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m going home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n
"What? We just arrived!"<\/p>\n\n
Irynka shook her head and left. Marinka looked after her - she didn't understand anything. Sofiyka looked at Marinka.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d Marinka asked.<\/p>\n\n
"She wanted to say something. And you didn't let her.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I didn't notice... What did she want?<\/p>\n\n
"I don't know. She never said.".<\/p>\n\n
In the evening, Marinka came home pensive. Mom noticed right away\u2014moms always notice. She was washing dishes, and the kitchen smelled of lemon detergent and slightly warm water.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 What happened, swallow?<\/p>\n\n
Marinka told me. Mom wiped her hands with a towel. She sat down next to me.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 You know, Marinka, there is such a thing - it is called "space for the other". When you speak - you take up space in the conversation. When you listen - you give space to the other. If you take up all the time - a person gradually becomes silent. Because they have nowhere to put their words.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 How is this a place for words?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Imagine: a conversation is a small circle. You sit in it. And Irynka sits too. If you talk all the time, Irynka shrinks, because you need a lot of space. And it becomes cramped for her.<\/p>\n\n
Marinka thought. She imagined a circle. In it, she was herself - big, talkative. And small, cramped Irynka.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Mom, what should I do?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Try this. When someone starts talking, wait for the period. Not the comma. Period. When the person is completely finished. And only then say your piece.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 What if I forget my opinion?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 You'll remember. And if you forget, it means it wasn't very important.<\/p>\n\n
The next day, Marinka ran to look for Irynka. She was sitting by her door with a book.<\/p>\n\n
"Irko," said Marinka. "Tell me what you wanted yesterday?"<\/p>\n\n
"Never mind, I forgot already.".<\/p>\n\n
"Tell me. I won't interrupt. Honestly. I'll wait for the full stop.".<\/p>\n\n
Irynka smiled. She closed the book.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 We had a kitten yesterday. A little white one. Mom brought it from work \u2014 someone dropped it off there. It's so small, we're still feeding it with milk from a bottle. I wanted to tell you because I thought you'd want to see it too.<\/p>\n\n
Marinka was silent. She listened. She waited for the full stop.<\/p>\n\n
"That's all," said Irynka.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cCan I take a look?\u201d Marinka asked.<\/p>\n\n
It was hard for her not to blurt out something about her old hamster. But she held back. Irynka nodded, and they left together.<\/p>\n\n
The kitten was tiny, with blue eyes. It lay in a box on an old sweater and looked at the girls as if at a great miracle.<\/p>\n\n
Marinka softly stroked his paw with her finger. Irynka looked at Marinka and smiled.<\/p>\n\n
Marinka had a new feeling in her chest. Warm. It turns out that when the other person finishes talking, he is happy. And when he is happy, you are happy too. It's such a simple exchange.<\/p>\n\n
From that day on, Marinka didn't stop interrupting right away. It doesn't happen overnight. But every day it gets a little better. Because there was more room for others in her circle of friends' conversations. And her friends told her more.<\/p>\n\n\n
\ud83d\udca1 Interrupting is a small inattention, listening to the end is a great respect.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n
Marinka liked to interrupt \u2014 it seemed to her that it was faster that way. Until she saw her friend quietly end her story mid-sentence.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3211,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":""},"class_list":["post-2215","istoriya","type-istoriya","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya\/2215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/istoriya"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}