We gather at a local restaurant to acquaint ourselves with new friends. They are lovely people and it's a relaxed evening.
We are four couples and at the beginning of the dinner conversation, we keep the conversation between us all, but after dinner is served, finished, and dessert declined, we break into the corners of our table. Quieter conversations are easier than shouting across the table.
Tony and I converse with the couple closest to us. We talk about many things. Our children knew each other in high school. Tony had a colleague-in-common. The conversation switches to hobbies and the woman is a gardener. But they're having trouble with their lawn.
"You know those Gen x-ers, they don't want us using pesticide to keep our lawn healthy."
There is a pause as the couple waits for us to agree. This is my moment of truth and standing up for what I really believe. "Well, we are one of those couples, though older, who don't use pesticides on our lawns because of environmental impact."
Tony rushes in, "She had beehives and kept worrying about the bees."
"I actually lost beehives because of neighborhood pesticide use."
So the lovely couple explains what they are doing to have a healthy lawn without pesticide use. There is a way. I'm proud of their efforts in working with their neighbor's requests. The neighbor's children play on the lawn and the pesticide complaint and change was for the concern of those children.
The topic turns to remodeling and following or bucking trends. Our couple chides the monochromatic scheme so popular now. We are slow to respond, and so they keep explaining. "You know, the white kitchen. You don't have a white kitchen, do you?"
"Well actually, we do have a white cupboard kitchen." I don't explain that our remodel was over twenty years ago before it was a trend. It doesn't matter.
Our sweet friend kind of hurdles over the latest comment to a safer topic of which strong opinions and assumptions aren't needed.
It only makes me smile.
What a fun night.
It's why we get out and meet new people; we learn that not everyone thinks like we do, and as a matter of fact, it can still be a pleasant conversation.
This always brings me back to a birthday card from a friend whom I regularly disagreed with. The front of the card was a photo of a naked man from behind and a dressed man passing the other way. The inside caption read: "When everyone thinks the same thing, no one is thinking."
Not sure what the naked man had to do with the saying, but I liked it and I've never forgotten the caption.
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