My First Phone Call to Beloved

This August, Beloved and I celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary. For those of you keeping score, yes, I married her when I was one year old. I must also confess that Beloved was my first real girl friend, and that is probably why I was a little awkward while we were dating.

Who am I kidding? I am still awkward.

The first time I called her during our first summer of dating, I was staying on campus and she was living at home. I went down the hall to the pay phone with the proper coin in hand. For those who are unfamiliar with pay phones, they were large phones bolted to the wall. You inserted a coin and were able to make a phone call for an alloted number of minutes. They were replaced by cell phones.

I put in my coin and dialed her home number. Remember, there weren’t cell phones, I had to dial the number to her house and hope someone answered. Someone did answer; her father.

I really like Beloved’s father. He is a wonderful man, but I must admit back then I found him a little intimidating. It isn’t that he was big, or loud; he wasn’t. He did’nt have guns nor did he hunt.

He was a division chair at the college Beloved and I attended. He had a reputation for being a firm professor, who had high expectations. And most everyone had to take his class. I transferred into the college from another school and did not have to take his class, which was a relief.

But now I was on the phone, calling his daughter, and he answered. I responded with, “Hello, can I speak to...”

Then it happened. I forgot her name. I was so awkwardly nervous just dialing the phone number that when he answered, my brain did a complete memory dump. This was not only the professor from school, this was the father of the girl I liked. I was so nervous, I didn’t remember my name, and I for sure didn’t remember her name.

After a few moments, my memory was once again working and I was able to ask for Beloved by name.

“One moment,” he said and then I heard a chuckle: a chuckle I now know well and enjoy hearing. That chuckle was followed by the muffled sound of him calling to his daughter. “It’s a boy for you, and I think he forgot your name.”

I have forgotten many things since that time and I am sure I will forget many more things that have yet to happen. But, I am so thankful that despite the first awkward moment I spoke with my then future father-in-law, that he didn’t hold it against me and still approved of me marrying his daughter.

Does anyone have the time?

As I recall, my first watch was a Timex. The commercials on TV at that time boldly announced that a Timex could, “Take a lickin’ but keep on tickin’.” With that watch, I was prepared to dive into the greatest depths of the ocean (which was 360 miles away). Smash through a brick wall (just in case a door stuck closed and I was trapped inside).  Drop the watch in a cement mixer (which I would be using to repair the wall I just smashed), chisel it out of the hard dry lump of cement, and it would still work. I would be able to tell what time it was and be home on time for dinner. Pretty amazing stuff in the mind of a young boy.

I found out that Timex’s do not last forever and over the intervening years, I have worn many different watches and for a while, I wore none at all. I had a cell phone and that worked just fine to tell me when to be home for dinner. Using a phone for a watch has some unique advantages. The best is not having to set it. The watch automatically synchronizes, a big word that means make two things agree. In this case, the time on my cell with the cellular company clock. That clock gets it’s time from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which in turn sets its clock by Father Times watch. (I have it on good authority that Father Time uses a Timex.)

The next major advantage of using a cell phone is its multiple functionalities. Even many not so smart phones can surf the web, have built in calculators, act as mp3 players, send short snippets of text to other phones, and if really necessary, can be used to make an actual phone call.

A few times, I found having to fish out my phone to be quite awkward. If my hands were full, or dirty, or it seemed to be a socially unacceptable time to be fumbling with a cell phone, I would not check the time. Then I would be ceaselessly worrying about being late for dinner.

Because of this predicament, I purchased a new watch and yes, it was a Timex. It is a nice two-tone gold and silver color. It looks splendid upon my wrist. Now if both my hands are busy, I can simply glance down at my wrist. The other morning I was drinking a nice hot cup of coffee and eating a piece of toast. Suddenly I had the urge to know what time it was. With a quick flick of the wrist, I turned the watch to gaze at it-and immediately jumped up in pain from pouring hot coffee all over myself. 

On a side note, this post is shorter than most others. I apologize, but I just glanced at my watch and realized I am going to be late for dinner.