It’s that time of year again. The blues are turning bluer in the sky, the leaves are turning sassy in the trees. There’s something about days like these—the school buses? the crispy evenings? the word “September”??—I don’t know, but something makes me want to curl up in a cozy sweatshirt and turn on a football game.
And I don’t even really watch football.
Something is in the air.
This air takes me to a whole new place.
Which makes me feel especially good about something Miss Sarah said last week. We were talking about how once in a while you start a conversation with someone you love, like, say, your kids, and the dang thing goes over like a lead balloon. Maybe you were hoping for a deeper connection or a little better insight or a great teaching moment, so you asked just the right question in just the right way at just the right moment, and all you got was “mmmm hmmm” in response.
It happens.
But Miss Sarah reminded me, it’s not about having or not having a certain successful conversation. It’s about building a climate.
Like, perhaps, a climate where it’s safe to talk. And it’s also safe to not talk. A climate where someone cares enough to ask because she really wants to know—and where she also cares enough to not know. A climate where listening matters more than lecturing. Where our silence can be as much a contribution as our words.
When we breathe in that kind of air for long enough, eventually…it can take us to a whole new place.
Climate changes things.
Which really takes the pressure off doing any single conversation perfectly. And, I, for one, think that is great news.
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photo by R-boy
by julie rybarczyk
