When the Phone Rings

Have you ever given any thought about how many emotions can be invoked by the sound of a telephone?  I haven't for a long time, if I ever really have at all. 

A few weeks ago I had dinner with a friend who was leaving for an extended stay out of state.  She was looking forward to seeing old friends there, and even more excited about seeing her youngest son marry his long time sweetheart.  I don’t even remember what I said to her as we left the restaurant.    Maybe we joked about her paying the bill next time….I’m sure we complained about the bone chilling cold…perhaps I told her I’d see her at the winter’s end when she got back to town.  As it turns out it will be the last time I ever speak to her; I am saddened that I can’t remember our final words.

When the phone rang last week I looked at the screen and knew it was my husband calling from home.   I assumed it was one of our many ‘stop and pick up’ calls we make so often.  The call was just another run of the mill interruption in a day full of interruptions at the office.  In fact it was my husband delivering the news that my friend was gravely ill, and her sister would like to talk to me.

The face of my friend was in my mind the whole time I spoke with her sister.  It seems she had become ill and had ended up in a far-away emergency room.   Doctors discovered the reason for her illness, a devastating cancer  no other professional had been able to diagnose even though she has been in chronic discomfort for years.  No “patch you up and send you home” illness, this one.  She deteriorated rapidly and was eventually put into the ICU by the weekend. 

This kind and gentle soul is a woman with whom I’ve been friends for over fifty years.   As she lies fighting for her life, thousands of miles away, I wish I could sit by her bed and try to comfort her.  All I can do is pray for her and for her family who is doing just that.

 

Now I am waiting for the phone to ring.   Every single time it does I feel a cold finger run up my spine; it is a call I do not want to receive.  I’ve promised myself this experience will change the way I do things from this time on.  I want the parting words I speak to my friends to be memorable and honest.  From now on I will hug my friends close and say, “You are my friend, and I love you.”    I will say it because I want these to be our last words, spoken in the hope that we will meet again.   More importantly I will say it to honor my dear friend, to whom I can no longer say the words, and hope that she can hear me.

                                                                    Life is Good