He who laughs first...

gets the joke the quickest.

Senses of humor seem to be harder and harder to come by. The more we speak only through social media, the more we use emoticons to try to make people understand that we are being silly. Inflection and tone of voice get lost in a sea of words.

Being able to *hear* a conversation is becoming a lost art. Heaven forbid we have more conversations face-to-face, where we can actually look someone in the eye while we're talking to them.

I'm as guilty as the next person. I've been known to be lazy and text the boys because I don't want to walk upstairs (don't judge, it happens).

Since noticing this trend, seeing people (people in my family as well) with their noses in their phones/computers/etc., I've instituted family dinners. Every night, whomever is home (because honestly, it's rare all five of us are home on a week night), we sit down at the table. The cell phones, computers, tablets, and television get turned off and put in other rooms.

We talk.

Sometimes more than others, but we talk. I'm teaching the art of good table manners (holy nightmare, Batman). I learn something new almost every night from my kids (and even my husband sometimes). I hope they learn something from me, too.

I've always been a proponent of talking to my kids. I know it drives them nuts sometimes, but they know I will always be there and they can come to me with anything. When I say anything, I mean anything.

So far, they do.

I don't operate under the delusion that I know everything that's going on in their lives. I'm smarter than that, but I DO know a lot more than a lot of parents.

Another person I talk to, almost every day and sometimes several times a day, is my best friend. We're hundreds of miles apart now, but that doesn't stop us! It's these visceral conversations keep me sane, and, oddly, keep me writing. Vocal interactions keep me writing.

Please, talk dirty to me. It doesn't even have to be dirty, just talk. It doesn't even have to be to me, talk to ANYONE. Use your voice rather than your fingers (or thumbs).

Find the joy in interaction again, find your sense of humor. It's lonely, and it misses you!

~Kim