Meeting in the middle

We don’t share interests…well, maybe I shouldn’t say that. I have no idea really. There might be something in there he actually likes, but the only thing that lights a spark is football so the rest is anybody’s guess. But I do know he has zero interest in anything I feel compelled to share on occasion. I have a similar disinterest in his shares beyond just that I like the sign of life in him and the sense of honor I always feel when someone I care about trusts me in that way. Now that it’s just us two, though, this dynamic has altered some, and it makes me chuckle. I still mostly spare him because I think it’s harder for him, but this morning I was feeling unusually chatty and decided to tell him about the Moriarty podcast I’m listening to. It has the actors who played Merry and Pippin in it, and he’s suffered through the Lord of the Rings movies with me countless times. Before long there was the usual need to escape so he started wandering toward the stairs with the uh-huhs and okays and then the slowly down one step, then another. On the landing there was an awkward pause and then a polite question about how long a podcast is, and then a “well, sometimes these things just happen” followed by the final trot down the rest of the stairs. 🤣 Tomorrow, odds are I will be summoned from wherever I am in the house to watch a football replay and I’ll be smiling like I have a clue what I’m looking at and say something equally desperate or painfully pointless. 😂😂 I imagine we both think sometimes it would be nice to share these things with a like-minded person, but there is something to be said for the conscious effort of respecting someone different from you enough to try and fill that space. 😌