I Love it, I Love it Not...Talking on Cell Phones

Agreed. Yes, absolutely, there is something wonderful about being in the grocery aisle and calling home (though not in my case) to say, I forgot, what do we need besides bread? Or being able to take a call by the pool instead of staying inside all day to wait for it and wasting a day of sun. A few minutes of cell chat here, a few minutes there, to enable multi-tasking is okay. I get it: we're all busy. But having every conversation with a friend who's driving or having a heart to heart to somone on blue tooth is about as appealing or appropriate as breaking up via text message.

There was a time--several years ago--it seemed all of my conversations with Deanna took place on her way home from work. And I was frustrated. Just as we got into conversation, she would be pulling in the driveway. We still have those phone calls, of course, but as a result we also have a regularly scheduled Sunday conversation when we can both talk from the comfort of our own homes. Jill often calls on the way home from work--around 9 o'clock my time--to check in, and to do so before I go to bed. If she were to wait until she got home, she'd find me sleeping. Sometimes she still does. But in addition to those 9 o'clock chats that are hit or miss, we also schedule times to talk at home (while sharing a long distance cocktail). More and more that's how Tam and I talk now too--by appointment.

Maybe that seems impersonal to you: scheduling phone calls. To me, it's carving out time to spend time with friends who live far away. No traffic lights, no horns blowing, no windshield wipers, no a*shole drivers to distract us. I like that better: talking old school with old school friends. Seems only appropriate.