The Phone Rings

For a very long time I've had a distinguished love-hate relationship with the phone. It was talking on the phone that brought me a magical sense of awareness of the power of human conversation and then, the most intensely uncontrollable love of this life. We would fall asleep with the phone next to our ears and wake up with each other. It was talking on the phone that, years later, became some of the most painful mental torture I'd ever know as I let someone put my life on hold for almost a decade. These days, the cell phone is small and holding it to my ear is very uncomfortable. The speaker is useless. It is old so it must it be plugged to stay alive during any call longer than ten minutes which tethers me to a very short cord. Reception at home is terrible at best. The only comfortable and enjoyable phone conversation is hands-free in the car. So I rarely answer the phone unless I am driving and not using navigation. The phone rings, somewhere inside me cringes from old memories, the conscious me looks at the phone and says, Why don't you just text me?

Just in case you ever call. :)