I'm not a phone person!




As an introvert, I find I prefer writing as my medium for communicating as it allows me to pause and collect my thoughts. I can delete and rewrite things that are unclear or sound stupid. 

Thank goodness for email and Facebook. They have given me another outlet for communication which I can embrace. Also I’m more of a visual person so that’s another part of the appeal.

I’ve never enjoyed the phone as it often makes me feel tense and put on the spot, the same way I feel if confronted with a large group of talkative, extroverted people. Plus once it’s out there, it’s out there. You can’t retract the words.  I often resist phoning people unless there is no other option. I much prefer to shoot off an email or a Facebook message.

 “I’m not a phone person,” I would always proclaim to my mom again and again each time she called. 

I know the phone was my mom’s favourite way to keep in touch with friends and family, especially these past few years when she wasn’t traveling much anymore.

Whenever she called, she would put the speaker phone on so my dad could also listen and comment. 

I would hear them enjoying their day in their favourite sunroom with the background din of the fountain trickling out on the deck or the rain pounding on the roof. Sometimes I’d hear the crows cawing as they demanded some leftovers. Bigfoot would always be meowing to be let out or let in, always on the wrong side of every door as T.S. Eliot would say. Mykie would purr loudly at the sound of my voice.

I know the phone calls were a way to share some time with me and make it feel like we were in the same room together instead of being 1,000 miles apart. Now I share a daily phone call with my dad to make sure he’s okay and share our grief together as we navigate our new reality without my mom.

Last Monday was the last phone call I’ll ever get from my mom and sadly she didn’t even get a chance to talk before she died. It was devastating and yet as my wise friend Kay said, it was a gift to know I was in her thoughts just then and to be with her as she left this Earth.

I am sorry I told her I wasn’t a phone person as I’d give anything to have one of her phone calls now. I will miss them.

Comments

  1. Shilpa GupteNovember 20, 2015 at 8:57 AM

    Oh Cat! That is so sad! But, I am glad you speak to your dad regularly now. I do it...have been calling my mum-dad everyday, without fail. It has now become a ritual, missing which I feel I missed out on something very important! Time is so uncertain, you never know when things go wrong....that is the reason I simply call up people who truly matter to me the most...instead of chatting, I prefer picking up the phone and hearing their voice. Better way of communicating with your people...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownNovember 21, 2015 at 3:43 AM

      Yes, you are right, Shilpa. It is good for hearing their voice and knowing they're alright.

      Delete
  2. NabanitaNovember 20, 2015 at 11:17 AM

    oh that's so sad...my condolences to you...your mom loved you the way you were, even if you weren't a phone person...take care..hugs

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 20, 2015 at 2:31 PM

    I'm so sorry, Cat. *hugs*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownNovember 21, 2015 at 3:43 AM

      Thanks, Laurel. It's a sad time but I'm getting through it. Not much choice when this happens.

      Delete
  4. UnknownNovember 22, 2015 at 1:36 PM

    Sweetie.... I was reading your statuses on fb... Feeling a sadness within... Feeling with you in your loss, dear Cathy. Its the way of life, even how hard it might be... Sending you warm thought and biiiig hugs

    ReplyDelete

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