So, there I was...

If you can rattle off the rest of that saying, as told at LCCC in the mid 2000's, at least I gave you a chuckle on your Monday morning.
But, I was actually going to say there I was, at the bar, in the Renaissance Hotel, eating dinner and having a couple rounds during my stay in Denver for the ILC and Stock Show. I don't care for eating alone in restaurants all the time, so I often take in meals at hotel bars.
I'm also pretty shy if I don't know you. I'm still opinionated, but it's hard for me to just waltz into a room and leave with a whole new group of friends...just not that girl.
Anyway, that being said, the bartender made idle small talk with me as I ordered, sipped my drink and ate my Flat Iron Steak. He fancied himself a writer too, and between comments on how very, extremely, seemingly painfully young I looked (I got it after the first statement he said when looking my ID....really I did) he explained his fascination with the written word.
I was bored out of my mind - sentence structure and verb placement conversation will do that to me - and consuming my steak at record breaking pace for a leisurely dinner, to be followed by an evening of doing nothing.
Then a middle-aged business man sat down next to me. He asked what I did, and I gave my standard response of working for a state-wide weekly ag newspaper in Wyoming, running my own photography business, and that I have cattle. God bless him for skipping over the writing part almost entirely, and zoning in on the cattle/ranching aspect.
He asked questions, and I answered - for almost two hours. He was proud that his family had farming background, a couple generations removed. He asked about feeding cattle, breeds, sizes, male vs female, etc...
I was in my element, and explained away. Like I said, I'm shy, but you get me rolling on cattle and I can be your new friend...just stay away from adjectives and Charolais and we'll get along fine.
We covered everything from the always popular, "do you ride horses?" question, to more detailed ones regarding why his steak isn't always good when he goes out to eat, and use of implants in cattle.
Two hours later I jumped off my bar stool...staggered a little as the drinks were a little stiffer than I had realized...and headed to my room.
Before leaving, the man enthusiastically stated that our conversation was the most interesting bar conversation he'd ever had.
Did he believe every word I said..no, he told me so a couple times. But he listened to my reasoning, and I listened to his, and we both learned a few things. He really wanted to know about agriculture, and when I was able to explain things, and back them with real life experiences, science and statistics, common sense, or a combination of all three, he got it for the most part.
You just never know when the opportunity is going to rise to tell your story.