A Friendly Phone Call

This past Sunday I watched Tiger Woods win the Tour Championship, his first winning golf tournament in five years.  Since I’m a Tiger fan, I was thrilled, but since I also like to be efficient I was playing Free Cell on my iPhone, and thinking about what topic I should write about for my blog at the same time.

Most of us have a preferred way to communicate – in person, in writing (text or emails), or by talking on the phone.  I’m an “in writing” guy.  “In person” is also a good choice for me.  But, for whatever reason, I don’t like talking on the phone, especially on weekends.  In fact, I seldom answer my cell phone unless I know who the caller is and, though I’m not a millennial, I don’t even have a land line at home.

I was enjoying the golf tournament when my phone rang.  The call was from my daughter who lives in Colorado.  I briefly considered not answering, but I almost always take calls from my family.

She was just calling to say “hello.” We had a delightful chat.  As a rule people who call me have an agenda – they want something, or want to share some news, so I was pleasantly surprised by the “just hello” aspect of our conversation.

After we hung up I thought, “That was unusual.  I rarely call anyone other than for work.  I was both surprised and pleased that my daughter called me, and that she has made it a practice to reach out to me regularly, especially over the past few years.  It feels great.

On our call my daughter mentioned that she has also been regularly speaking with my dad, and he has been asking her questions about her life.  She enjoys their long-distance phone visits.

So even though my blog is in writing, I’m putting in a pitch here for phone calls to friends or family “just because.”

Was Tiger’s victory the high point of my weekend?  Almost.

But the real high point of my weekend was a short, friendly phone conversation with my daughter.

Alan