Working from home is new to me, turning a simple question into a treatise on the finer points of government contacts, not so much.
Going on nearly three months working from home now, the conversation went something like this today, "hey Dad, what are you working on?"
"Well, I have to look at our GSA contract pricing and modification we have pending."
"Stop. This sounds complicated so I'm going back upstairs before you start explaining it." Then, she walked upstairs.
When everything feels like a lecture, you stop wanting to hear it. Possibly, she was just coming downstairs to say hi and was being polite and just starting conversation. My natural inclination is to want to explain and drill down into the why I'm doing something, not just the what.
She wasn't at all trying to be rude or mean. She knew that if she didn't say something I would turn this into a fifteen minute one sided diatribe on government contracts. I can do this with pretty much anything.
I'm slightly troubled by this feeling though. Not talking is something I have get better at but I'm scared that if I don't tell them all the things, then I will have let them down. The most valuable thing I have right now is the time I get to spend with them because they will be gone and living their own lives without me.
Progress today is finding the balance and knowing when the right answer is to say as little as possible.
Going on nearly three months working from home now, the conversation went something like this today, "hey Dad, what are you working on?"
"Well, I have to look at our GSA contract pricing and modification we have pending."
"Stop. This sounds complicated so I'm going back upstairs before you start explaining it." Then, she walked upstairs.
When everything feels like a lecture, you stop wanting to hear it. Possibly, she was just coming downstairs to say hi and was being polite and just starting conversation. My natural inclination is to want to explain and drill down into the why I'm doing something, not just the what.
She wasn't at all trying to be rude or mean. She knew that if she didn't say something I would turn this into a fifteen minute one sided diatribe on government contracts. I can do this with pretty much anything.
I'm slightly troubled by this feeling though. Not talking is something I have get better at but I'm scared that if I don't tell them all the things, then I will have let them down. The most valuable thing I have right now is the time I get to spend with them because they will be gone and living their own lives without me.
Progress today is finding the balance and knowing when the right answer is to say as little as possible.
