Member-only story
Conversation is Connection
Talking on our way out of Isolation
At Aging Acres, I used to think a conversation about soup was a conversation wasted. Then I began to notice what happened when the talking stopped.
I have often thought that a good conversation should be about something important.
It should contain an idea, a question, or a story I haven’t heard before. It should reveal what a person has learned, what he fears, what he hopes for, or how he makes sense of old age.
But living among older people has made me reconsider what conversations are for.
At Aging Acres, I hear plenty of talk about ordinary things. Someone mentions the weather. Someone asks whether the soup was any good. Someone asks if a neighbor has been to the doctor or when her daughter is coming to visit. The same stories come around again. The same questions come up, sometimes from the same people.
I used to wonder why we couldn’t talk about something more substantial.
Now I think I may have been judging these conversations by the wrong standard.
The Content Is Only Part of the Story
Content is what we talk about. Connection is what happens between us as we talk.
