Today I accompanied my mother to a lunch with some of her friends. I was by far the youngest person present.

Talk turned to a local conversation group that her friends had found unsatisfactory.

Friend: “All they do is talk about how their children won’t communicate with them.”

My mother: “‘Communicate’? Tom never shuts up!”

I didn’t mind being the butt of her joke, but for some reason it seemed unfair that a mother should be funny.