This piece has been living in me since January.

I went to visit my father in the United States. Every morning, I sat with his coffee group — a rotating cast of men with views so different from mine I wasn't sure I could stay in the room.

I stayed. For five mornings. And I practised something I've been reading and thinking about for a decade: what builds bridges?

This essay is about deep listening, wrongful convictions, immigration, conspiracy theories, and what moved between me and a man called Conspiracy Kyle in the fluorescent light of a grocery store.

It's also about Conscious Relationship Design — not in the way you might expect.

I'd love to know if it resonates.