TheBanyanTree: Drink and Dial

[Maria Gibson]

Seems there's a 'fliction going around and I have been infected.  When I 
first began this oddity, I thought I had invented it.  Get a little beer 
in me and then drag out the cell phone.  Drunken phone calls, that's 
what I lovingly refer to it as.  The people I call refer to it the same 
way but I doubt lovingly and I'm sure at least a few of my recipients 
have said it with a different attitude and facial expression.  Oops.  
Since confessing my problem to a few folks I've learned I'm not alone.  
And, yeah, they all feel weird about it, too, but still do it.  Like me, 
most of them have told all their friends to take the damn phone away but 
a determined dialer will find a way; we've all done it, and the next 
thing you know the other line is ringing.

I ask myself in the morning, why?  Is it liquid courage or an unveiling 
of the need to connect?  Do I have to choose? 

Funny thing is, back in the old days which are no more than a few months 
gone by, I never even kept my cell on.  It was for my convenience and I 
almost never gave the number out because I didn't care to be bothered.  
Now I have names and numbers in the contact list from people who were 
merely sitting next to me, became interesting and next thing you 
know....  I've deleted most of them.  Occasionally I'll remember a 
number that has been deleted to protect the innocent which may not turn 
out well for them in the end.

So, I get a little fuzzy and I make the call.  There are some people 
(God love you folks 'cause I sure do) I can call anytime, no matter how 
much I've imbibed or what time it is, and I know for a fact they won't 
hate me for it.  Sometimes I'm unaware I've called them until they call 
me the next day and recount the funny things I had to say.  Oops.  Not 
as big an oops as when I think, know or believe that I have annoyed 
someone, though.  That feeling has me cringing the next day and, again, 
asking the whys and how comes.  The good thing about that, and I am the 
queen of finding the good amongst the sucking, is that I have matured to 
some degree.  Now when I think, know or believe that I have annoyed, it 
registers the next time and I am (most of the time) able to think twice 
before making the dreaded call.  Often it is at the last minute as I 
stare at the dialed but unconnected number on the small screen, pants 
around my ankles as I sit on a toilet.  Yeah, I'm usually in the 
bathroom making the calls.  Don't know what's up with that, either, but 
I got bigger fish to question so I don't dwell on that aspect much.

Maria