Adult Conversations

I am one of those parents. It's not that I planned on it, wanted to, or can change. But I have become one of them. When talking with other adults, including my wife, I can only talk about my kids, parenting techniques, and the finer points of baby bodily functions.

I simply do not possess the capability to hold a conversation for any length of time about anything else. Take, for example, sports. We watch them in this household on a regular basis. We root for the home team. We even catch the occasional SportsCenter. I should know enough to hold a five-minute conversation about last night's game. However it goes more like this:

Coworker: Did you catch the ball game last night?

Me: Sure did. Great game.

Coworker: How about that homerun in the seventh!

Me: Oh yeah, it was awesome. As soon as it happened Grace did the cutest thing! She heard the crowed cheering on TV and started to clap and cheer herself. We love that she enjoys sports so much. We're such cool parents!

Coworker:

Me: We even had Timothy in a baseball-themed onesie. That is, until he soaked it so much with drool we had to change him.

Coworker:

Me:

And that's about how the conversation ends for me. Awkward silence. Fortunately for the coworker, someone else usually overhears the attempted conversation and jumps in to rescue him with batting average stats, the amazing performance by the relief pitcher, and the lousy ump.

Talking with fellow parents isn't so bad. It seems we're all stuck in the same conversation rut. However my wife and I still have friends who don't have kids yet. Thankfully, they're nice enough to still call us to get together, but I can't imagine how boring we sound.

If you think I'm complaining about all this, I'm really not. I love talking about my kids. Besides my faith, I'm finally passionate about something to the point I can talk about it all the time and not get bored. Good for me. Maybe not so much for you.