Yesterday, I made sure to let my entire family know that I was going to be taking this vow of silence. When I woke up, I remembered, but as soon as Zakai woke up, I forgot and started talking to him. As soon as I remembered, I grabbed a bandana to tie around my mouth to remind me.

At some point I even grabbed a face mask to help me remember. The bandana kept coming off. I realized that I needed something over my mouth to remind me not to talk.

When I was in college, I used to participate in the day of silence. I remember we would have tape over our mouths and it was actually really fun because all my friends were doing it. We would go to class and no one who answer any questions verbally. We would walk around with little notepads and write everything down. I remember once I was trying to get tutoring from the CS lab and it was totally a waste of time. LOL! The point of the demonstration was to show that there are students on our campus who do not have a voice that represents them – or at least that is how I understood what we were doing to mean. It was primarily for the LGBT community. To break our silence we would go to the courtyard and have a yelling match. SOO MUCH FUN! Gosh, this day made me remember how much FUN college was. In fact, when people ask me to give presentations to kids about encouraging them to go to college, I know they want me to say it’s to get a good job, etc… BUT the most I remember is how much FUN I had and how many friends I made.

Anyway, for lunch, Denis decided to treat us to Freebirds for lunch and I ordered with my little notepad. It worked and I was so happy because they didn’t look at me like I was a weirdo. They read my note and made my lunch. YAY! It may have also helped that I go there all the time and I order the same thing and the beautiful lady serving me even knew that I like freshly cut cubed avocado instead of guac. Thank you, Freebirds! The Wisners LOVE you!

Some lessons I learned:

1. Parenting is close to impossible with no voice.
2. Remembering to be silent is close to impossible.
3. I talk too much.
4. Silence is bliss. For me and others too.
5. When you make a commitment to something, sometimes you have to take a time-out. There was an argument between the boys and I literally said, “I’m taking a time out!” – so I could talk and get this issue squared away. I couldn’t write faster than the situation was escalating. LOL!
6. Sometimes the thing you want to do could cause frustration for others: I actually ended up breaking my vow of silence. By 4pm, there was clearly a lot of tension in the house and I couldn’t help but feel it was because I was not speaking. When Zakai started getting into, “Mommy, Mommy” mode – it was time for me to stop. I think we were all about to lose it. He needed to hear my voice, I think. I dunno.
7. Day 7 was the perfect day for this challenge. My favorite number is 7 and this was my favorite so far. 🙂
8. The more silent you are the more you hear and understand: When I couldn’t speak, I was choosing my written words carefully.
9. Silence is a source of strength. This was so hard and I felt so powerful after doing it.
10. When you are doing something difficult, time is sooo slow. Seconds feel like minutes. I feel like this day was two days combined. Maybe because I was more aware of the day. At one point I kinda just wanted it to hurry up and end.
11. When you make a commitment to something difficult, you realize who your cheerleaders are. My oldest son, Zaleik, was so comforting all day. I could tell he was committed to helping me finish this challenge. Every now and then I would forget and call ‘Ziggy’, or I would be just about to say something and he would say, “Mommy – your silence!” to remind me. GOSH, he has no idea how much his support meant for me.
12. The silence was bliss.

“Silence is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it. There is no substitute for the creative inspiration, knowledge, and stability that come from knowing how to contact your core of inner silence. The great Sufi poet Rumi wrote, Only let the moving waters calm down, and the sun and moon will be reflected on the surface of your being.” – Deepak Chopra

Another cool thing happened when I was feeling like this was going to be impossible. I saw the time 11:11 on my screen. How cool, eh!

I usually see it, but this time I decided to dig a bit deeper. I Googled what this might mean. I found this really cool video – #1 on the Google search. It said that the angel number 1111 meaning is a deeply spiritual sign about life’s path and it is apparently not to be ignored. The angel number 11:11 means your angels have messages for your now! Ok… I almost wish I hadn’t Googled it because now I feel a little freaked out. Doesn’t help that this month is Halloween! Doesn’t the lady in this video have a lovely smile? Her voice is so calming.