Telephone

Jeanna GLeave a comment

I took looking backwards to the next level this past week by ordering landline service for my home. My daughter is so excited about it. She says, “I feel like an 80’s baby!” This is funny because, although she is referring to the 1980s, it was the 1880s when the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T!) Company was founded by Mr. Bell. She has me calling the house from my cell phone just so she can have make-believe conversations with me.

I purchased a corded phone because it was cheapest, but also so we always know where it is. She asked how long the cord was on my childhood phone, about which I joked, “Not long enough.” Actually, it was long enough to walk from the hallway into the bathroom to sit behind the closed door and talk in private. Of course privacy doesn’t exist if someone quietly lifts up the receiver downstairs and listens in on the conversation!

All this phone talk got me thinking about the game Telephone that we used to play. One person would come up with some silly phrase, like “Purple polka-dotted elephants dance in roller skates,” and whisper it to the next person, who passes it on down the telephone line, until the last person says the message out-loud for everyone to hear. Of course the message is never the same as it started, but it’s something equally ridiculous that makes everyone giggle and roll around on the floor.

At the time, it didn’t occur to me that the game was actually a great example of how rumors begin and spiral. Hopefully we can all catch on to that lesson, quit the gossip, and spread simple, true, and positive messages from now on. Let’s try this: Enjoy Being. Pass it on!

Hi Mom!

Jeanna GLeave a comment

Every time an award is received, or a game is won, and the winner yells into the camera, “Hi Mom!,” I smile. How great is it that moms are the first to be considered when a child does something well. How great that moms are loved so much, and credited with so much, that they get the first shout-out.

Mom. The first to take care of me, the first to teach me how to take care of myself, and the first to teach me how to care for others. Also the first to prove how much work it all takes.

Mom was always working. She had a full-time, 9-5 job, and then a part-time job in the evenings or on weekends. And they weren’t careers that she was passionate about, but jobs that benefitted her kids in more ways than just bringing in a paycheck to keep us fed and to put clothes on our backs. She ran a daycare out of our house so she could be home with us, and she worked as a secretary at the Y so we could get free camp enrollment, and she worked at a university to get us discounts on tuition. And despite all the jobs, she was always home in the morning, putting breakfast on the table and getting us on the bus, and then cheering us on from the sidelines, and driving us to and from our extra-curriculars in the afternoons and on weekends. How did she fit everything in? And when did she ever do anything for herself?

Being a mom, myself now, I’ve figured out the answer to those questions. She fit everything in because she was powered by love and sheer will. And what she did for herself was to grow us into capable adults who don’t need her anymore. But that right there is a Catch-22, because, as she told me, “The greatest achievement as a mom is to have kids who grow up and don’t need you anymore, but it’s also the worst thing that can happen to a mom.” So now she has all the time in the world to do what she wants for herself, but I really think she’d rather still be mom-ing us.

But mom, please know, on Mother’s Day and every day, that even though we can figure things out on our own, we still need you. We need to know we can come home, show you all the great things we’ve done, get a hug, and then hear you say “Be careful” as we head back out.

We also need to know we can come home, tell you about all the dumb things we’ve done, still get a hug, and then hear you say “Be careful” as we head back out.

So don’t worry, mom, whether we’re winning or losing, you’ll still get the first shout-out. Thanks for the love.

The Ties That Bind

Jeanna GLeave a comment

I went to the Pickle Festival in Mt. Olive, NC today. It was good old-fashioned fun, complete with a car show, funnel cakes, kiddie rides, a petting zoo, live music, and a pickle eating contest. There were tons of people there, which was great to see, and something I haven’t been a part of for a few years.

There were two main strips of vendor tents and food trucks that ran along either side of train tracks. Rather than walking the pace of turtles within the crowds, my friends and I chose to walk down the middle of the tracks. Walking down railroad ties always reminds me of two things: 1) the movie Stand by Me (and if you’ve seen it, you know why), and 2) my dear friend, Lori.

My family members who immigrated to the US settled in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Growing up, we drove out from Connecticut for the family reunion just about every July. We always stayed at Twila’s (my first cousin once removed) duplex. In the home upstairs lived a girl my age who became my pen pal after we met the summer before 5th grade. We kept in touch all year, and then hung out just about the whole time I was in PA, year after year. We always had so much to talk about. So much so, that one day we got to walking and talking, ended up on a train track, and kept going until we finally realized we might have been gone long enough to get in trouble.

I remember we drew train tracks on our letters to each other a few times after that. There’s something so comforting in being able to walk alongside and talk with someone, for however long, about anything. Lori and I took the time to open up to and listen to each other, and it laid the foundation for a lifelong friendship. I was her Maid of Honor, and attended her baby showers. We still send birthday and holiday cards to each other. Our letters have shortened to texts and checking in on social media, but we’re in touch. After 30-something years, it’s safe to say those ties will continue to the horizon. Blest be the ties that bind.