The Conversation
“I don’t want to talk about money any more!” He was just on the underside of yelling, his voice tight, jaw muscles twitching like they did when he felt cornered.
“But we have to talk about money. At least how to manage the money we do have.”
“We both want such different things. I know yours are as important to you as mine are to me. But I don’t want to give mine up so you can have yours.”
With a sigh, his partner sat back heavily in her chair. “Is there any way we can compromise, find any common ground? Is it really so black and white? Yours or mine?”
The conversation went long into the night. They had avoided the topic for so long that it was difficult to get started. So many childhood emotions tied to spending money, whose money is it and who knows best. All full of tears, punctuated by laughter. In telling this story many years later, they couldn’t remember what finally turned the conversation into a planning session filled with excitement.
Conversation, turning the temperature down on emotion and a lot of patience - that was really all it took.
“Tone is often the most important part of a conversation ~
and listening is so much more important that what you say.”
~ Hoda Kotb
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