Quiet and hardworking.
Those words almost invariably find their way into my report card in Primary School. I don’t know if it’s a lack of imagination on my teachers’ part or that was how I was perceived at school.
See, when a child grows up being told something repeatedly, she begins to believe that something. That, plus the fact that as I grow older, I find myself mellowing. I have always thought of myself as a very quiet and reserved person who shuns social functions and small talk. At the office, I spend nearly all day behind my desk, working in quiet solitude.
It was therefore with no small degree of surprise and amusement that I heard Dan, my lunch mate, say today:
When you have lunch with me, lots of people always stop by and chat. When you are not here and I have lunch on my own, there is always no one. You are so sociable and chatty.
I stopped and stared, disbelieving. Life can be so full of surprises.
