A loved one is a teacher.
She’s a damn good teacher.
Not only does she continually take courses
to become an even better teacher
but
she surrounds herself
with the same cultural influences
her tweens are surrounded with.
She watches the same movies.
She reads the same books.
She listens to the same music.
She plays the same video games.
Why does she do all this?
Because her job involves communication
and, to communicate,
it helps if you speak the same language.
She gets the one-word answers
her tweens often give her.
She encourages essays on current topics
like werewolves vs vampires
and she can talk the Twilight books
well enough
that she can give struggling students prompts.
If your sales prospect gave you
a one-word answer
using her industry’s jargon,
could you understand her?