Mind Games: I'm Here Now
I grew up on a farm and we had a party line. For those of you born during or after the great Disco Era, this meant that more than one family shared the same telephone line. If you needed to make a call and someone else was talking you would hang up (or eavesdrop) and try again later. Callers from the outside got a busy signal. (Something you don't hear anymore in this age of call forwarding, 2nd lines and phone machines). If there was an emergency and the line was being used you could just politely say you really needed to make a call and the other party would cede the line. Of course, this was also before pizza delivery and 911 so really, what sort of emergency could there be? If someone cut off a leg while on a combine you'd just throw him in the back of the pickup and drive 100 miles to the nearest hospital. Then the patient would bleed out and die. Good times. But as usual, I digress.
When I was in elementary school I would sometimes stay after for a play rehearsal or some such mind-broadening experience. When it was done I would have to go across the street to the general store (I'm not making this up) to call my mom. Inevitably, I'd get a busy signal and have to wait. It sometimes took several attempts to get through because the family with whom we shared a line were possessed of 2 teenage girls.
It would sometimes take what seemed like, and maybe was, an hour before the line was free. Then, when I'd finally made contact with the Mothership, I'd have to wait some more while she bundled all the smaller sibs into the car and made the 5 or whatever mile trip to the store. (I don't know how far away it really was. On the really long afternoons it seemed like 50 miles).
Children have no sense of time. 15 minutes, an hour, it's all the same. And so, I have memories of spending hours and hours waiting at the general store.
During those long hours of waiting I developed a coping mechanism. I would tell myself that someday I would be a grownup and I would look back on this time and think "But Mom did pick me up. I did go home. I didn't stay outside of Mr. K's General Store forever because I'm here now". And sometimes, in the middle of the most mundane or random of moments I have remembered those afternoons and the little girl who didn't like waiting. And I think how clever she was to know that even the most interminable situation wasn't going to last forever.
It's a pretty good coping mechanism which I still employ when facing down something I really don't want to do. Like selling hotdogs at the baseball game today. My dread is compounded by all the temptation to worry: will The Child really do her homework at after-school care? Will I be able to find free parking? The Child is wearing a key to our house on a necklace. Will she keep it on? Will she remember the code for the alarm? (I guess I can post it on the wall for her, just in case). These and myriad other bits of minutia toss in my brain, what with me being the Organizer and Caretaker and Chauffeur. And because I'll be gone most of the day, I am not in control of how it will all play out. (I'm not much for the no control thing). But when I feel myself slipping off into my not-so-happy place I think "Tonight I will be home eating Thai chicken, drinking wine and watching "Love Actually". It will all be done. It will all work out. I'm here now".
Crap! I forgot to send a note to school telling them that The Neighbor is retrieving The Child. Thank heavens I don't have a party line.
cobbled together by Moi at 8:24 AM
6 Comments:
Question: Does The Child have a cell phone? Has she expressed interest, or mentioned that other kids have them?
I've wondered lately how common they are in schools. It also affects some fiction I wrote ten years ago that I'm trying to adapt to "modern times."
jpdc: She doesn't have a cell phone. Our take is that she'll get one when she can pay for her own minutes. Although, between you and me, we'll probably add a third phone to our plan come high school, but she'll probably only be allowed to have it on her when she's going out. Of course she wants one and of course "all the other kids" have one. But that's not really true. There are kids at school with phones but from what I can tell they have parents who work all the time so they have to be connected somehow. I've thought about looking into one of those "Firefly" phones...you can only call to preset numbers and only the parent has the code for setting the numbers. Kinda like an electronic leash. To be honest, I wish she had one today. But I'll get over it.
Ten years from now, they'll give cell phones to fetuses. And when you are due to deliver, you can just text message your baby and tell him it's time to come out.
I remember the "Party lines" we had it here when I was a kid. I remember always being afraid people would listen to your phone calls lol.
As far as the cell phone thing goes.My Oldest has been asking for one for a while but thus far the enswers been no, if for no other reason than the inevitable $300 phone bills. I actually looked at the Firefly myself but we'd only need it once in a blue moon.
This is great. I remember you telling me that story in the apartment before "the Child" was born. It is wonderful to read and have the memory of your sharing it as well. *sigh*
PW, As I recall, I think I was telling you that story because I was great with Child, convinced she wasn't coming out and so was affirming that indeed, someday I would be able to say, "See, she came out". And thank God because seriously, that was one long wait.
Post a Comment
<< Home