you are chatting to a friend and they tell you that they miss their son who has just left for university
and you jump in to tell them how sad you felt when your son went away and
how long it took him to settle in and
how often he came home and
how he sometimes brought loads of laundry but that’s ok you still didn’t want him to go back and
how much fun he was having going to parties and
how he was becoming friends with all sorts of people that you had never met and
how it changed your relationship because he grew up so much
and and and
it dawns on you that yet again you have completely sabotaged another conversation and made it about you
despite meaning to just say yeah, I totally get it
but you never get that right
but also wow
it felt great to talk about your own kid