"...had a curious way of listening; he didn't so much listen to what you were saying as subcontract to some remote region of his brain the task of deciding whether whatever you were saying was worth listening to, while his mind went off to play on its own. As a result, he never actually heard what you said to him the first time you said it. If his mental subcontractor detected a level of interest in what you had just said, it radioed a signal to the mother ship, which then wheeled around with the most intense focus. "Say that again," he'd say. And you would! Because now [Nate] was so obviously listening to you, and, as he listened so selectively, you felt flattered.*
*The Big Short by Michael Lewis
For those of you who may not know Nate as well, this won't be nearly as funny as to those of who who DO know that Nate totally does this (or you have a spouse who also does this {cough} Becki {cough}). It's taken 5 years and actually READING this quote from this book to have it not drive me crazy and instead accepting that when I ask him a question, it will usually take around 15 seconds for him to actually respond (but he ALMOST always does, so he must have a high level of interest in me!). :D
We'll be celebrating our 5 year anniversary in a few days and it just makes me laugh at how much has changed. I think we've both become much more patient with each other and the things we do that those 5 months of dating/engagement didn't show us. :) I'm excited for the next [insert bajillion-type of number here] years to laugh about the differences and enjoy our similarities some more!
