Life with a "Heavy Weight"

It seems that I have been making a number of realizations these days.  Maybe it is due to boredom and more time to think reflectively or maybe it is the simple fact that I am actually becoming a "grown-up"..lol.  My father always said you were never grown until you were 30, and honestly once I hit 30 I personally bumped that number to 35.  Today's realization requires a short story:

I attended a mathematics workshop today, MSTAR Implementation Tools, to be exact.  Now at this workshop there were other mathematics teachers, of course, with the majority being middle school teachers.  You will often find people with various mathematical interests at such workshops.  You will encounter those that focus predominantly on education and its pedagogy, along with the other extreme of people who focus more on mathematical content than pedagogy.  (Sub-realization number one of day:  It seems that I am always drawn to those, or at least find myself in close proximity with those, who weigh heavily in the content area realm.)

Those who are content heavy, lets call them "heavy-weights" for lack of a better term, tend to be very passionate people.  Not necessarily passionate in the emotional context but in the academic context.  What I mean by this is that they tend to know and understand certain aspects and concepts in great depth and detail.  They do not necessarily know about multiple areas just one or two particular areas.  They find little niches (like mathematics) that they delve into and learn everything they can about it.  Once they have done this on a subject matter they tend to discuss these topics at great length.  For instance they may be able to discuss the recycling process for PET 1 plastics but be unable to detect when someone is no longer interested in a conversation.

While interacting with a "heavy-weight" throughout the day, I began to ponder the thought of what life would be like had I married a "heavy-weight".  Someone who was high strung and who would drone on and on for hours explaining a subject matter that really did not pertain to anything that anyone cared about at all.  How exhausting that would be!

Then it hit me......

Oh dear......

Poor Chris.....

My poor, sweet, relaxed Chris, who does not drone on and on.  Who finds and explores many interests not just picking and digging a topic to death.

He has to live with a neurotic, high strung "heavy weight".  He must endure hours and hours of discussion (usually one-sided, he getting the raw end of the deal) on subject matters he really doesn't care anything about.  (Sub-realization number two and three of the day:  This is why people do not invite us to gatherings, and if invited to gatherings, I often find that Chris is the only one who can be around me for any length of time.)

How does he do it?  How does he listen to me day in and day out?  How does anyone co-exist with a "heavy-weight" for any substantial amount of time?

Sigh....

I suppose I should research the matter and discuss my findings with Chris.  ;-)