Relatively Speaking

Mom and I watched a documentary on Einstein's Theory of Relativity which involved some personal history of Einstein, what he went through regarding working on his theory, his ideas about WWII, and his dealings with other physicists and astronomers towards proving his theory. Little Bit walked in and asked what we were watching, and also asked if she knew what it was about. Mom told him she only understood some of it, but that Aunt Nikki understood all of it. I asked Mom which part of the documentary she didn't understand. "Uh, well, this Theory of Relativity thing. It doesn't make any sense to me." ... "Ah, yeah, I can see how that might be throwing you a bit. Think of it as a better way to describe gravity." ... "Then what does that have to do with the solar eclipses that they are having to take pictures of? I mean, I understand they needed it to prove Einstein right or wrong, but I don't understand why." ... "That was just the only way they could prove it back then." ... "Ah, okay."

This is the best path for scientific conversations between my mom and I: mutual agreement that, no matter how much I try to explain, she simply will not understand, so it's best to explain as little as possible else risk talking her ear off and her being no closer to understanding than when I started.