Out of practice.

I was settling in for a quiet night, preparing to watch Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Ring. Ring.
Who could that be?

Check the caller ID (this is an annoying habit). It's my friend, Anne.

Hey, Anne, what's up?

That launched me into a 2+ hour conversation.
Well... so much for a watching DVDs but I do enjoy talking to Anne, and she to me.
It has been the nature of our relationship, we talk a lot about everything and nothing. I've been the one where she's disclosed information to first. I have a good ear and have been her sounding board. I listen, I absorb and I return input, only when asked. Unsolicited advice is that, unsolicited. Whatever I do say, I keep objective. I'm prideful of my ability to see two sides of a situation, also makes me a devil's advocate. I'm non-judgmental. "Judge not lest ye be judged." I give everyone a lot of latitude, as I want the courtesy returned.

Truth be told, she discloses a great deal more to me, than me to her. But I know she's familiar with some of the skeletons I have in my closet. That's my business and she respects it, one of the reasons I love her.

As our conversation rambled on, the DVD menu flipped many times over until I turned it off. I laid in bed, talking with Anne, partially engaged in what we're talking about, somewhat bored. My mind was wandering. I pulled out the laptop and started surfing a bit, checking NewsFire for blog and news updates. I realized, I'm severely out of practice when it comes to just having a one-on-one phone conversation. I'm not one of those people to have walking conversations on cellphones. Being at home, is more conducive to focusing on a topic. However I've become accustomed to multi-tasking, juggling more than one thing at a time,where one conversation is not engrossing enough. How sad is that? We've (at least me) become a culture of ADD. One thing to occupy our (my) time is insufficient.

I did eventually just throw on iTunes for background music and talked. It was nice. In the end, it was Anne saying goodnight first and I wanting to continue.

Life is short, but we shouldn't fill all our time with so many things.
I'll endeavor to focus and relish the single events. Practice makes perfect.