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The Parent Magnet

In general, I've always gotten along well with people older than me. I don't quite know why, but I suspect it has something to do with my old school attitude. We probably have very similar outlooks on life, so it makes sense that I'd get along with older generations.

Recently, though, I've noticed that other people's parents seem to have a particular affinity for yours truly. For example, I met my future brother-in-law's parents a couple of weeks ago. The two families got together for a meal as a means of introducing everyone to each other. Now, I've heard a little bit about them, and they'd obviously heard a little bit about us. But even given that, the dad spent something like half of the meal talking to me about school, work, and what I do for fun. Sure, I like to blab, but even when I would divert the conversation to other people, we'd end up back where we started. At the end of the day, it wasn't that big a deal, so I just left thinking we had a lot in common.

For those of you thinking that one example does not a pattern make, I've got more. The second example comes from my sister-in-law, who just so happens to want to be included in my writing a little more often. I was talking to her the other day, and I mentioned that I was thinking of visiting her and my brother. Apparently, when her father heard that I might be visiting his daughter, he said something to the effect of, "oh, then I'm coming over to see you guys." I've barely met her dad, and I think he's a nice enough guy. In his case, though, it's not like we have a shared profession or common experiences to fall back on. But there it was, I was attracting parents to the area by suggesting I might be around.

Heck, I've even had the parent of an ex-girlfriend specifically ask for me to act as a tutor. Sure, that one might be a little bit of a special case, but I highly doubt that the lady thought poorly of me if she was asking for my help. Funnily enough, the most amusing example of my parent magnet-ing also comes from a (different) ex-girlfriend's mom. The ex was talking to one of her friends right when we first started going out, and the following exchange happened:

Mild Ex: "So, I started seeing someone"
The Friend: *squeals in delight* (go ahead, guess the gender of the friend) "So, what's he like?"
Mild Ex: "Well, he's half Chinese and half brown"
The Friend: "I guess this means your mom will half like him"

In the end, the mom did like me a bit, so I think the friend was right.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about all of this. I'm all for making a good impression, but this feels like one of those talents that acts as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I think this proves I can have mature conversations when I choose. On the other hand, I think this means that I also exhibit all of the mannerisms that come with getting old (the word "curmudgeon" comes to mind).

I choose to think positively about this, though. All of this means that I could potentially draw up a small army of middle-aged Americans to help do my bidding. World domination, here I come.

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