I loved your story of how your farm family conversed. It brought up so many good memories. "Piling on" is definitely the way our talk could have been described as well!

New family members do change the dynamic. There's something to be said for giving everyone space to join in...but there's also something cozy about the table of people who know they're going to overlap (and the other people allowing THEM the space just to have their table chat)!

Thanks so much for reading and for the comment.