This morning, my partner and I went out for breakfast. At the next table was a man in business attire having coffee with a woman. I was trying to read, but the man’s voice was so loud that I kept getting pulled into his monologue. He was talking about his daughter, a graphic designer living in a small loft in New York City, sleeping on an air mattress, just starting her career, and so on. After 7 or 8 minutes of uninterrupted airtime, he asked the woman if she has any kids.
I couldn’t hear her response. I just knew it was short, for he was soon talking again. Another 10 minutes passed before he bounced the attention back to her. She held the stage for maybe 30 seconds that time. And so it went for the next 45 minutes.
As my buddy and I were leaving, the man made a comment to his companion that made me smile.
“I’m one of those people who holds everything inside,” he said.
Ahhh, sometimes the distance between our public image and our self image is delightfully expansive.