GIVING INSTEAD OF TAKING

Sometimes conversations just flow. Maybe the stars are in perfect alignment - more likely it's the fact that you've drunk way too many Diet Mt. Dews, it's after 11:30 p.m., and you simply can't shut up.

But sometimes they don't. Awkward pauses that hang in the air for possibly decades. Stilted efforts - no give and take.

Might be one of the reasons I love my dog so much. He looks up at me adoringly not matter what I am saying, and never interrupts.

Not so much my horse. He's a little more demanding, and if it isn't a subject he's comfortable with (i.e. carrots, hay, scratching his belly), he'll simply walk away.

And my cat? Forget it. If it's ain't about him, it ain't worth listening to.

It's easy for me to ignore people (my partial deafness can sometimes be used to an advantage), and it's just as easy to let my selfish ego take control of a conversation. and become the dominate speaker.

Tomorrow I am going to be spending a minimum of six hours in some sort of transport going up to and then back from Phoenix. And I am determined to ride that middle ground - to be an active and involved listener, only keeping up my end of the conversation by making concerned and sincere inquires that I legitimately am going to (try to) be enthusiastic about hearing the response

Report by 8 p.m. tomorrow night. Wish me luck.