Kid's birthday party serendipity

This weekend I took my youngest kid (6yo) to a friend's birthday party. It was one of those where all the parents stay and chat and they all know each other, except the only person I know is the mom of the birthday kid, and while she's really nice, I don't want to monopolize her time. And while the other parents also seem nice, I'm not in the market for new friends right now and don't have the bandwidth for small talk. Plus, everyone was staying outside with the kids, and it was just SO HOT. So I told the birthday kid's mom I would be inside, and she smiled and told me there was AC in the living room.

A couple of minutes later, I'm in the living room, enjoying the cool air, reading articles on my phone, and eating Doritos, and this kid, around 11 or 12, comes in asks me if I want to hear about different countries' symbolic imagery. And I'm, like, "YEAH, I DO!" And then he starts telling me all about the different symbolic images used by major empires over the last 300 years. And he's looking at the wall above my head the whole time. And the more he tells me, the more I see why this subject is actually quite fascinating. My phone is down, I'm giving him my full attention, and I'm thinking this is so much better than trying to make boring small talk with other parents.

His mom walks by the room and apologizes for him, and I said, "Oh no, he's telling me all about his special interest! This is great!" And she says, "Thank you" and goes off to attend to her younger kid. After he was done, he ventured back out to the party, and I thought I probably shouldn't sit alone inside the ENTIRE time and went back outside. His mom then came up to me and thanked me, and I said, "Oh no, it was great. It was cool seeing how much he's interested in history and symbolism, and I didn't have to put any effort into keeping up the conversation. I loved it." And she and another guy standing nearby looked at me like I was odd, which I guess I am. But this ranked as one of the better times I've had at my kid's friends' birthday parties.