I missed a call from an old friend today.
I tried to call her back immediately. She didn’t answer. I hit redial a few minutes later, and again a few minutes after that. I finally sent her a text message when my attempts to reach her had failed. When she didn’t instantly reply, I sent her a message on Facebook too. I was so excited to get a phone call from a real person; I had to find out why she was calling.
She texted me back a little while later to let me know the call was a mistake. Her pocket had auto dialed me while she was getting the mail.
I had to laugh. These things happen. I’ve done it myself. But at the same time, I was a little sad. I had to face up to the harsh facts.
She didn’t mean to call me.
Then I had to face another embarrassing truth. I almost never talk to live people anymore. My communications are done almost entirely in text. I text my children when they’re down the hall. I text my husband when he’s at work. And all of my very best friends are thumbnail avatars who live inside my laptop, accessible to me only via text.
Most of the time, I have no complaints. I can hang out with my friends until all hours of the night without my husband hiring a private investigator to discover my whereabouts. Why? Because I never leave the house. I can also visit with all of my friends at once without leaving anyone out. And best of all, I can hang out with my friends whether or not I have showered and brushed my teeth!
But admittedly, I miss leaving the house. I miss the fun outings. And believe it or not, I miss showering and getting all dressed up. I think I just might coordinate a girl’s night out, Twitter style. So what if my best friends are spread all over the globe. This is the twenty-first century. We have Android and iPhone. We can all go see the same movie in our very own towns, and tweet while we watch.
So we can’t share popcorn. We can still comment on the deliciousness of the lead character on the screen in front of us. Maybe next we can organize a trip to karaoke over mobile Skype. I know it’s strange, but don’t burst my bubble! Don’t spoil my fun! It could work.
It would certainly make for an interesting blog…
Until the next time…I’ll be hanging out with my friends in my jammies!