This is something that I never even considered before I started dating Lincoln. Since then it's become an almost daily conversation for us. I find it intriguing that some families are so much louder than others. I'm reminded very often that it's "not right, not wrong, just different". Maybe it's the number of people in the family, maybe it's just the members.
Lincoln is loud. Plain and simple. He talks, walks, snores, fights, plays, and cheers loud. Everything is loud. I on the other hand am a fairly quiet individual. I can walk across the house at night without making a sound, I never yell at the television set, and in an argument I'm the one who is silent rather than raising my voice.
My family gatherings are filled with quiet conversations between two or three family members. The TV is never on and people quietly come and go as their schedule allows. His family gatherings are filled with a circle of chairs and a loud conversation including everyone at once. There are often times full family games occurring with lots of competitive yelling and cheering.
The difference is not necessarily bad, but they do definitely take some adjusting to. I was extremely intimidated and filled with anxiety at every one of Lincoln's family gathering early on in our relationship and he used to dread mine because he was bored out of his mind. I'm glad to have married someone who is so very different from me. It has reminded me that differences are not always negative and that there is always something to learn from others.
Next time you are in someone else's home, notice...what is the decibel level?
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