5:30 Phone Calls
In a lot of reading that I've done over the past two years, I've come across a lot ideas and suggested practices on improving your life. A lot of them are things you could do everyday that will help you improve your productivity, meet your goals, and simply make you an all around better person. Even while reading all of that, this morning it occurred to me that I have one to share from a personal observation.
My mother had a routine everyday when she got home from work. Looking back, I realized that I may be the only person who knew what it was and until this morning never really thought about the impact of her routine. Here's what she did.
Following work, she would arrive home around 5:15 in the afternoon. After talking with me for a few minutes, she would make her way upstairs to change clothes and come back down with her walking shoes and a pair of socks. She always did this because loved to see how excited our dog Freckles would get when she saw the walking shoes. Freckles loved walks and couldn't wait to get into some trouble as the two of them made several trips up our half-mile driveway.
Mom would then sit at the end of the couch next to the end table that was home to our little blue telephone. I remember that phone, because it had three buttons for Fire, Police, and Ambulance. I had programmed all of those buttons to be speed dials for my 3 best friends. Anyway, she would pull out the phone book from underneath the phone, look up a number and begin to dial. When the caller picked up she would say "Hey this is Carol. I just wanted to see how things were going."
She would then just sit and mostly listen for the next 5 minutes with the occasional "uh huh", "oh no", or "I'm sorry to hear that". While she listened she laced up her shoes and was ready to take a walk. Once the other person was finished talking, she would end the call with something like, "I'm sure something will work out soon" as if she had already silently prayed for them on the phone while they were talking. She'd hang up the phone and then take a walk with Freckles.
I suppose a lot of people just like having someone to listen and she created that opportunity everyday at 5:30. I think that's just one reason so many people liked her.
5 comments:
Did you mom call people at random or was it people she knew?
She soon became the crazy lady that called the whole town. People started getting Caller ID and that was the end of it. Our phone number was blacklisted and she just spent 5 minutes listening to the old "Bee Buuu BEEEP, We're sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again." She felt like no one ever listened to that lady.
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It was people she knew - it was usually people from our congregation or the community.
HA! Well, considering your town and how people liked your mom, I bet she could randomly pick a number from the book and she'd know them and have something to ask them about.
Good post. I think I should start incorporating this into my days.
Your mom was amazing. I miss her every day.
Your mom was very special. I know you all miss her every day. You are a great example of how wonderful she was..you definitely are carrying on her "kindness" tradition.
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