When the phone rings on a Friday evening, it's almost never good news. This is one of those fundamental truths of mankind that I have absorbed, like a series of body blows, over the years.
But it was the cell phone ringing Friday evening as I was trying to wrap up for the week, not the office phone. So that was ambiguous. It had to be someone in the family because I try not to let the cell phone number get out much. And there's no voice mail on it, so people eventually learn that, even if they have the number, there's not much use in calling it.
It was Oldest Son.
And he was happy. Really, really happy. He'd gotten one of the jobs he'd interviewed for. A good job. One that will pay real money.
He'd tried calling home, he said, but he couldn't get hold of Long Suffering Spouse. So he tried my cell phone. I told him to call his mother directly because she'd truly love to hear this news direct from him. (And she did.)
But it got me thinking. We talk to Oldest Son from time to time, of course, but usually we initiate: I generally send an IM, either because I see he's there or commenting on his Away Message. He doesn't call us. Usually.
Except, like yesterday evening, when he was very, very happy.
Older Daughter calls all the time. But she calls especially when she's sad. Or upset. Or in a bad mood.
And I'm wondering: Is this another boy/girl thing? Or is this just two different people doing things in their own distinct ways?
I'll hang up now and wait for your answer.
6 comments:
well curmy i certainly have no answer... but thanks for the good wishes today at charlie's! and congratulations on the boy getting the (great) job. i know how that feels, ONE of mine has one of those (smile) and the last one is "getting there" slowly..... sigh
bee
There's no answer when it comes to offspring questions.
I have 2 sons and 1 daughter. What you wrote sounds eerily familiar. I mostly talk to my sons when I call them. With daughter, we talk extendily on Saturdays, then she calls when she's upset, etc in between. (So I usually hear from her often.)
Congrats on son's job.
As one of Four Daughters, I can say that we're all different. I don't think it's a Boy/Girl thing.
I think this goes back to the theory that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. We socialize boys to be independent tough guys. We teach them that to be one of the guys, they must stuff their feelings and not talk too much about what’s going on inside their head. Girls are different. We teach them to share everything. That’s why chick-shows like Oprah are so popular. Women love to communicate and be open about their feelings.
This is just one mother’s opinion about one of life’s greatest mysteries.
I call my Mom about pretty much everything, good and bad. I like to tell her amusing stories about the kids and stuff like that. My brothers don't call all that often, though I have one brother who can chat your ear off if he's in the mood. But he can also go months without calling. I call at least 3 times a week.
I do think girls are more dramatic and right now your daughters are in a dramatic stage of their lives. They'll probably calm down a bit when they're older and just call to chat. At least I hope so for your sake.
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