I had kind of a busy weekend because my sister was in town for a visit with two of her kids. We don’t have a whole lot in common so sometimes it’s hard for me to think of stuff to talk about. Though, me coming up with stuff to talk about is not a huge problem because she’s the talker. Her kids are talkers too. All three of them will be talking at the same time on seemingly different topics and my poor head can’t process any of it. I feel like it’s my job to decode the messages and respond with something relevant.

And I guess that’s the cultural divide between us.

I don’t even know how to describe the talking that’s not meant to convey a message. It seems more generally social than informational. Or maybe it’s purpose is echolocation. It doesn’t matter if the topic changes in the middle and I have no idea what we’re talking about. A meaningful response really isn’t required. She doesn’t really seem to pay attention to the content of the response, just tone, body language and eye contact. But it’s just so built in to my nature to try to listen and understand and respond with relevant content that I get exhausted trying to keep up. It’s like trying to swim upstream, and water never gets tired.

It’s not that we can’t get along. We don’t argue. It’s more like we’re from completely different planets and can’t learn each other’s languages.