go there.

The year when I was fourteen, I didn’t have any friends.

No, that isn’t how I meant to start. It just popped into my head when I started thinking, The year when….

We can’t write about things like that before work and before breakfast and even before coffee.

But let me ask you this: how do you feel about small talk? Isn’t it exhausting? Surely that can’t be the only first step to more meaningful conversation. I worked at an event last night and I made small talk about home states, about Minnesota, neighborhoods in DC, and dogs. It was fairly harmless, but it all has a way of making the world (and myself) feel very empty.

I have an idea for a podcast (it’s the thing to do these days, I think) where I talk to complete strangers and I start the conversation with: Tell me what you think about god. Followed by: Tell me about something hard in your life. Then perhaps followed by: Tell me what you think about art. Of course, I’m not much of a talker - but I’m a great listener. Think of the connection you would form with people if conversations always started that way.

I don’t run across people who go there very often, but when I do, I try to hold onto them. Maybe if I worked a bit harder to be that sort of person, we would all find each other?