The Gift of Good Questions

Something in us heals when someone asks one of those really good, curious questions.

Her questions began like most people’s. “Where all did you go?” I answered with my standard answer including the countries visited and a sentence or two summarizing the trip with a nice bow on top. But her question and my answer was just the start of one of the best conversations I’ve had about any of my travels.

Kaylene is an 80-year-old woman with bright eyes I know from church. We became buddies during COVID during long, gabby phone chats about the big and small stuff of life. She called me “Kid” and we’d talk about families and if I ever expressed sympathy for her legs “not working so well anymore,” she’d gloss over it as not a big deal.

When I was back from my first European wander session of 2023, I gave her a call. Not at all to deluge her with an unsolicited travelogue, but to give her the briefest recap of it and to catch up about her life and life in general.

But several minutes later, she was still asking me questions. And what’s more, she was actually listening. A lot of peop…