Every few weeks I go out for lunch with my boss. This is in our capacity as “mates” rather than boss-man and sidekick, although we do talk a bit about work because that’s what we mostly have in common.

Today I had my usual – fajitas – but I think I’ll have to try something else ‘cos they’ve changed the recipe and now they taste meh. He’s on some kind of weight loss jab that stops the food-noise, so has switched from the Ultimate Burger plus extra onion rings and fries, to a ciabatta. He’s lost a lot of weight in the last couple of months.

He’s been wonderfully supportive of me through my gender-identity issues and surgery, my marital problems, and my heart attack. I am damned lucky to work for someone like him.

As a result, he knows what to ask about things in my life – obviously, I am not going to tell him about certain things (he’s a straight cis guy)! But I can tell him about friendships and things that I’m doing , such as trips to the arboretum or my regular Friday visit to the pictures; and the wonderful feeling of being safe and relaxed in my own home.

What prompted this little bloggette though is the way he talks about his eldest daughter: he lights up with love and pride – and I love seeing the change in him when he talks about her. It makes me feel good – and I don’t know his daughter and I have zero interest in football, but I share his joy.

She’s in the under-eighteens football league and the adult women’s reserve team – and she may be moving to the women’s “first” team – which is beginning to get seriously serious: she might even have a career in football.

So I discovered a new word: freudenfreude is the joyous opposite of schadenfreude.

Its good to just share in someone else’s happiness with no agenda attached.