A blanket apology

Well, I've done it--alienated one of my kids because of my tirade against cell phones. What I want him to know is that every phone call is precious--even from a cell phone in a car.

Well I remember my mother saying, "I don't know why god lets me live so long." When you get old, you are sort of excess baggage to the kids. They have to make "duty calls" to an aging parent, and I remember well those infrequent "duty calls" to my mother and to my mother-in-law, but now that I'm in that boat, I wish the calls and visits had been more frequent.

We raised a pretty good batch of kids. They are all successfully employed and have full and productive lives. One is a teacher; one has his own business; one has her own business; and one is a successful free-lance entertainer. We raised them to be independent, and they all are, and they are all successful at what they do. I wish they knew how very interested I am in hearing from them--even from dropped cell phone calls and from being put on "caller ignore" for somebody calling who is more important than I am. I haven't heard from one of them in over 6 weeks, although he talks to his siblings regularly.

I have always told them how much hate cell phones, don't have one myself and probably won't get one. I would carry one in the car in case I need to call for help--but I certainly wouldn't talk on one there. The only place in the world is sacrosanct, and it isn't the bathrooms, where I have extension phones. It's my car. Not only is it illegal in most states to talk on a cell phone in a vehicle, but I just saw on CNN that five just graduated teenagers were killed in an auto accident because they were text messaging. I would prefer that my children keep their attention to the road rather than give me their divided attention.

So this is blanket apology to anyone who might have been offended by what I said.

Muthah