It all starts with small talk

A few days ago I made plans with my friend Kandice To meet up with another mom and Her Kids. I had never spent any time with the one mom and was interested to see what she was like. Kandice mentioned that it would be nice to have me there to make small talk. I agreed that it does make it easy to have someone your familiar with in a situation like that.

But later on that day I got thinking about my earlier conversation with Kandice. I looked over at Grace who was babbling away to her toys. I would hear the occasional word, Daddy...Mommy...ok... Babble Babble Babble. When she caught me watching her (which she often does) She gurgled out a sentence. (I have no idea she said, but I knew she was asking some sorta of question. Baby whisperer I am not.) And than I smiled. It all starts with small talk, doesn't it?

When we're babies, we work so hard to get out the simplest of sentences. We start out with small words first, than smaller sentences. Small Talk. But one thing you gotta give babies, they try and try and never worry about being embarrassed. And its funny, you know, we have to continue to make small talk for the rest of our lives. Sure we know bigger words and even bigger sentences but we have to work just as hard to come up with SOMETHING, anything, to say.

But How come when we "get bigger" it gets harder to make small talk. As a teenager, I could talk all day, to anyone who would listen (believe me, it was hard to find people who would want to listen). And mind you, I can still do that with people I know well. But when I have to introduce myself to someone, or be around someone I barely know, I get So awkward. The small talk seems impossible. And certainly not desirable. ha. My sentences get choppy. I forget what I was gonna say. I cut them off mid sentence. And than eventually wander away. My bravery as a baby went out the window with my pride. Humph.

But than all of my friends I have made since living in Alberta, all started with small talk. I didn't wow them with any impressive job. I didn't woo them with impressive things. I'm not overly good looking and I'm not even really funny. But I used what I had. Small talk. Small words and small sentences. Over time, I guess, somewhere along the way, My words got bigger and my sentences longer.

So today We took our kids on our play date. I put Grace down and she was off and running amongst all the other kids. And before I knew it Kandice and I were making small talk with the other moms. Nothing big. But than again, It all starts with small talk!