Chattin'

Remember the days when you chatted on the phone for hours? You laid on your twin bed, you painted your nails, you resprayed your hair up totally big, you fixed a diet coke, you moved to the couch to turn on Days. All while maintaining your focus on the caller.

I used to do that with Laura. She is a friend from college. Today I was on the phone with her for over an hour. That may seem like a long time, but the truth is, we really only got in about 30 minutes worth of conversation. Which is a bummer because we had important things to discuss, like how our size 8 clothes were getting dusty and outdated and how food tastes so yummy. But we kept getting interrupted by the combined 8 people we are responsible for.


Cole was supposed to be putting away his clean clothes and he kept appearing dressed in layers of the clothes he was supposed to be putting away and asking questions like “Can I just have a garbage bag? I really don’t want these clothes.”

Laura had to pause to tell one of her kids to stop cutting the hair bows. I think we all know what a daily struggle that can be.

And she must have said “Just go clean!” 34 times.

Then there was the issue of her happy-hearted bathroom cleaner who was singing so loudly that Laura couldn’t make out my words.

One of mine came in to ask if he could take the laptop outside where he was playing with the neighbors. That’s when Laura and I discussed our overuse of the phrase “Not today.”

Laura had one following her around trying to get her to fill out an apparently time sensitive form, while I had a moment with my kids after finding a whole package of deli ham that had been left on the counter for several hours by someone who doesn‘t pay for groceries. Yet.

There just really wasn’t a lot of time left to talk. Gone are the days. Like sand through the hourglass.

Thank you Dear Jesus for the Internet, thank you.

Oh, and for the kids.