Sometimes when I have a few extra minutes on my hands I'll scroll through my cell phone address book and delete those numbers that I'm no longer calling. I'll often store numbers in my phone for future reference, such as that of a local cafe I had called once to find out when it was open. But having extra people, places and numbers just clutters up my screen and makes it that much slower to locate the numbers I do want.
In a recent purge I chose to remove the name and contact information of a man I had dated a few years ago. He lives in Boston part of the time, in the Southern Hemisphere the rest of the time, and he used to call me after making his annual trip north. I originally decided to store his name so that I'd know that it was him calling, rather than being caught by surprise at the sound of his voice. Sometimes I was happy to hear from him, other times less so, and it was useful to be able to choose whether to answer...or not. But enough time has passed since his last phone call that I decided to hit the erase button and send his details to the wireless dustbin of history.
Knowing that the Universe is somewhat mischievous and often tests me, for example having ex-boyfriends e-mail me days after I've deleted their e-mail addresses, I was not all that surprised to see his number appear on my phone today. Amused, I answered, expecting to hear his voice. It turned out not to be him after all, but my new downstairs neighbor calling me to ask if I still had anything stored in the basement. No, I said.
Our brief conversation concluded, I again looked at her phone number. It appeared to be exactly the same as this man's. Was it possible that she had inherited his old number? Unlikely, I thought. A few days earlier, in my sorting and packing I had found a piece of paper that had his contact information on it; I hadn't yet thrown it out. Locating the paper and comparing the phone numbers, I noticed that they were identical except for one digit. Where there had been a "2" in his number appeared a "3" in hers.
If she calls me again, I will probably think of him, which was what I was trying to avoid in the first place.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
I liked this post. Especially the bit about trying to avoid thinking of someone... Something I trying hard to do at the moment. Thanks for sharing. I followed you here from Jeff Hayes.
Thanks for your comment - interestingly, once I write about something it helps my mind release it. Perhaps you could write about the person you don't want to think about and then throw away the paper. Just an idea.
I did this. It does help. And other strategies too. Small increments of help. Sometimes just time passing helps too. A dulling of the intensity.
Best I find is a refocussing on me! Thanks for coming over to my place to visit. You'll see that none of this stuff is on my blog...
Post a Comment