Phone Person

I am not a phone person. I really wish I was but I never seem to actually call anyone, especially in this day of email. I actually like to talk on the phone (surprise, surprise) but I have trouble actually making the phone call. I am always trying to time my schedule and my idea of the schedule the other person must have. I try to think through pick up times, nap times, time zones, dinner time and then always "realize" that it would be a bad time for the other person if I called right then. So I think of a better time to call but then my day gets away from me and days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months. This would not be a huge problem if I never moved and my friends never moved. Because for the most part I see my local friends at school, church, story time. I run into friends at the park on a sunny day or in Target and we catch up. But I do move, a lot. And have made dear friends along the way. 

Email is great for the big events in our lives, announcing a baby, moving, job changes, newsletter type events, but not so great for the little things that we laugh about together or the really hard stuff you can't write in an email. Struggles in marriages or with kids. Hard times in friendships or with our faiths. Things we don't want to write down. Things we can't write because we would be a bad wife, mother, friend. So I am trying to learn to use the phone to maintain and even grow friendships at a distance. So far I have mostly been practicing with one of my dearest who has known me since college and has lived very close to me, in the same room, and very far away, across the country. I have taken the chance to call at what I deemed a bad time just to say hi. Nothing big, nothing long. I have decided that in this day of caller id my friend would not pick up if she was busy or it was a bad time and that I won't be interrupting her with my call. Wish is funny because whenever I see a friend's number on my caller ID I am thrilled! 

I use to do everything via email because when I used to get on the phone someone would start crying or screaming or fighting. Email was just easier with small kids because I could stop and start and stop and start. But now my kids are older and I have learned to walk away from Mommy's on the phone induced crying. I am okay with putting a closed doors distance between myself on the phone and my tantruming child. If the crying is really loud I will even close a few doors to muffle the noise. So I have started calling sometimes when an email would suffice just to get in the habit of actually talking to people. I did this recently with a friend in town. Not only did we figure out whatever it was that I was calling about but we chatted awhile and connected. It was fun, a lot more fun than email.