Some topics still remains. Football, soccer, Liverpool, Liverpool, World Cup, all the topics that are a matter of life and death. But the rest of the conversations seem to revolve around Maegan.
You meet a group of friends for drinks and the first question they ask you is "how's Maegan doing?" You enter your office and your collegues ask you "how's Maegan doing?". You go for lunch meeting and your partners ask you ... you got it ... "how's Maegan doing?"
I've just got home from Australia and the conversations I had with friends and collegues there still revolves around Maegan at tea-breaks, breakfasts, lunches and dinners. They are conversations I enjoy but I found it facinating.
What's interesting too is that your vocabulary changes as well. Words takes on new meaning in your journey as a dad. Here's what I mean:
Expressing is no longer a word that means "to convey (a thought or feeling) in words" but rather now "a method of extracting breast milk".
Feeding Time no longer reminds me of fond memories at the Singapore Zoo but rather the hour (mostly unearthly) where baby needs milk.
Dummy is no longer a word that means a "replica or model of a human being" but rather now another name for "pacifier".
Wind is no longer "a gush of air" but rather now a lay man term for "colic".
So many words that once means one thing to you, now means another. In conversations with other parents, it becomes an exchange of stories, tips and suggestions about parenting. You not only become acutely aware the number of children your friends have but you learn in detail each of their birth process.
As conversations continue, you learn their family history, how each child behaves or misbehaves, how each child means so much to their parents and you share with them their many fond memories.
It's details that normally get swept under the carpet in daily conversations between friends but comes alive when parents meet. Especially with parents of a new born baby. Like us.
Conversations. Interesting aren't they?
