Looking to be twice struck

I was eating supper at Wendy's.  At the table diagonal to me, a young man was speaking to a woman twice his age.  I couldn't tell if the woman was his mother, but the young man was at great ease with her.  The proximity of our tables was close, so I overheard every word the young man said.  He spoke about several subjects, and in typical male conversational style, he spoke of things that were not personal in nature, but of things that were interesting to him in his external world, such as the plot of a novel and the interesting parts of an episode of a TV show he was following.  The woman was kind enough to show interest.  Whether or not she truly was interested is a different story.  But, she at least was kind enough to indulge the young man.

I dwelt on a couple of thoughts while the young man was talking (and talking).  The first was that when the young man was talking about the novel he found interesting, I was listening to what he thought was of interest to him.  I am in the middle of writing a novel myself, so I am keenly aware that people have a variety of points of attraction.  I wanted to know if what I had written would be of interest to this young man.

I say I am "writing" a novel.  Well, my linguist friend often chides me because he says it is so ironic that I have been saying that writing and reading are disappearing, yet I continue using that mode of communication to entertain and inform.  Point taken - but this novel is different.  I am using 3 different modes in its construction.  We'll see how it goes when it is finished.

The second thought was that the older woman really listened well to the young man.  She didn't judge his comments, which she easily could have done because his comments were value driven.  She participated in the conversation with him, extending what he said with interesting comments of her own.

Wow, do I miss that.  Intermittently I have a conversation in which people participate with me or I with them.  It happens rarely, and I miss it.  I tire of the judgmental, many times accusatory, conversations that make up the conversations outside of work.

There was a time not that long ago when I anticipated with great enjoyment the conversations I would have outside of work, conversations with laughter, excitement, and energy.  I am always looking to the horizon for the storm that will bring the lightning that strikes twice in that same exact spot.  I've heard that lightning does that.