Dual Post

Head on over to just another day of Catholic pondering for the 97th Catholic Carnival and you might see a familiar face (not that many of you have seen my face, nor that my face is actually in any way connected with the post, just that it seemed like a nice turn of phrase, or phrase, or something).

Many of you know K. For those of you who don't, she's a fellow blogger who is having a tough time in life. Let's just say if things keep going as they are she's only going to need a layover in purgatory.

She recently put up a post about yet more problems and one of the lines caught my attention. She talked about people who truly listen when we have problems, not just sitting by and tuning out while we rant.

It seems to me that would be a good definition of a friend. I would hold a conversation with most anyone about The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien but if we started discussing, say, glacial moraines (I did almost have that conversation) I would begin to tune out a lot of people. Some I would pay attention to still because there is a certain degree of friendship which makes their conversation interesting and engaging even though I can say maybe three things about moraines.

My prime example of this was J. When ever you talked with him he would always engage you and be interested in what you had to say. He would not simply appear interested, but there would be an honest connection and he would remember what you discussed. He was (probably still is, but he's know many miles away) always willing to talk and made a great listener.

So my goal is to someday emmulate him, though it's a long road. If any of you want to help, feel free to chat with me about moraines. And make me listen.