Have somehow coaxed two of my absolute favorite introverted homebodies of really very gorgeous intelligence out for supper at a local Irish pub for garlic bread, pizza, beer, and conversation.

and, like

when you sit across the table from one person over coffee and you talk, it is much like singing a duet. Two voices. You’re listening to each other and responding in kind in order to share something that one person, alone, can’t make. And those are nice. Lovely, even. A lot of the time, that’s all you really need.

(please don’t make fun of my simile, I am sooo sleepy)

but when you’re sitting at a table with a group of people, and you’re all pretty dang smart and you’ve been paying attention and you are each actively cultivating an independent sense of morality and you know how to make each other laugh – now you’ve got at least a halfway decent intellectual discussion happening among folks who are probably more or less equals. It is a treat.

And the conversation is no longer similar to a duet. You now have a three part harmony situation happening in chorus. Three voices. Different perspectives, ideas, things that seem important, directions in which a tangential line of discussion is likely to go. It’s an entirely different composition and it’s gonna change the sound.

Done right, those conversations are exquisitely satisfying. I’m fond of them, anyhow.

It was a nice time.