Please forgive me

I feel like it's time I admit that I have a flaw: I suck at the telephone.

I do!!! I don't try to or want to or mean to, I just do. I feel like lately I've been straggling to keep up with returning calls, and it's not like I'm even called that much. I'm just not good at returning them!

I don't want you to take it personally, which is why I'm admitting it now. Publicly. It's a big apology really.

The problem is I just can't seem to figure out when to make it work. See, I feel like I have a few small windows of opportunity. In the morning from 5:00ish (emphasis on the ish) until 6:45 I am scrambling to wake up, shower, get ready, pack the truck with lunches and gym bags and school bags(that HOPEFULLY were packed the night before) and get William up. If the 5:00ish were more of a firm 5:00, I would maybe scramble less and have more opportunity to answer the phone if it rings.

But, as it stands I am far too intimate with my snooze button and end up rolling out of bed in a tizzy. So when I hear my phone ring at 6:15 I'm usually running down the hall with an unbuttoned shirt and a toothbrush in my mouth trying to get some pants out of the dryer.

Then on the ride to Goddard William and I are laughing and dancing and singing and sticking our hands out of the sunroof...not a lot of good quality talking time.

My first good window of opportunity is from about 7:20 until 7:45 while I drive to work. There are two issues here: number one, the majority of people I'd be trying to call live in Houston and have just begun their work day and can't break away from the morning bussle. And number two, I'm probably trying to guzzle down some coffee, put on makeup, and convince myself to be in a good mood.

Then I'm at work. And unless necessary for a few acceptable and important reasons, I try not to talk on the phone at work. If I were important enough to have an office with a door I may reconsider but until someone finds me that special, I'm stuck in cube-world where everyone can hear me.

So then my next window of opportunity opens from about 4:45-5:30. This is an ideal time. While it is my only time that is 'my own' until bedtime i do realize that if I spend all of 'my time' silently focusing on how very little 'me time' I have, I will have no friends. Because eventually no one wants to be friends with someone who never has any time. So, my evening commute is great phone time. If you happen to call in this time I can almost guarantee I'll answer - unless someone beat you to it, or I've already called someone else back.

But that damn time difference creeps back in and most people in Houston have just arrived at home, are greeting anxious pets/ kids/spouses and need to fill all of their bellies with dinner.

So, then I pick William up and spend the next 2.5 hours devoted to him. More sunroof exposure, dinner time, reading time, playing time, maybe walk the dog time, bath time, bed time...lots of 'time' in there but none of it included the phone. (except on the off chance that time and weather are on my side and we get to walk layla...that Is PRIME talking time) But William time is not good phone time because to him, phone=dada=his. So I wouldn't be able to talk if I tried.

So then, THEN I have some me time. Some me time when I can wash dishes, prepare lunches, pick up books and toys, maybe do some laundry, look longingly at my iPad, and tell myself for the 150th night in a row 'go to bed before 9:30. If you go to be before 9:30 you will wake up at 5:00 and thus your entire day will be more organized and flow more smoothly'

Yet somehow I always seem to see the clock strike 10:30 or later, an then I do press snooze, and then my day begins with this idea that I have no time.

All of this whining and griping and excusing is to say: I don't mean to suck at the phone. I have great intentions of returning calls and maybe, MAYBE, one day making a call of my own.

But until I figure out a good way to improve the above facts, find someone to delegate these tasks to, or become independently wealthy I do fear that calls may take days to return. ESPECIALLY if you're someone I enjoy talking to for more than 5 minutes.

So really, take it as a compliment. I love you.


- manda