What’s a phone call worth?

If you’re as old as I am, you remember when public phone booths were ubiquitous and a phone call used to cost a nickel; then it went to a dime, then a quarter, and then all the booths disappeared as cell phones became ubiquitous. My how things change!

But that’s how much a phone call used to COST. I’m asking here how much is one worth … especially emotionally.

I’m confessing here today that for most of my life I had it all wrong. I used to call only when there was something “important” to say or report or on a “reasonable” schedule. For example, for almost 10 years our family was in Canada, where I was responsible for all the Blue Bird operations. Fridays were relatively slow because normally we didn’t run the production lines, so that was the day I’d call my mother, who was a widow most of that time. Her speedy answer to those calls should have been a clue to me how important they were and that she was probably sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring.

Now I contrast that pitiful schedule to the way my wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law call each other … at least three-to-six times a day! Is that overkill? Maybe.

But my wife’s face still lights up when her phone rings and one of them is on the phone. What do they talk about? Is it the “important stuff” like someone is expecting a new baby or a someone died? No. It’s even more important than that!

Like, I taught my dog a new trick or my chickens just laid their first egg or we had a new sauce on our vegetables last night, or the pastor’s sermon this morning; in other words, the seemingly mundane things of life that make life the joy it can be if it’s properly shared with those you love.

By comparison to the way I called my mom, I’m spoiled rotten. I have one son who usually calls me each morning before 8 and then once or twice more during the day. I love those calls. I always know exactly what’s going on in his life. I have another son who calls me two-to-three times a week, and those calls are always special as well, but I don’t know what’s going on in his life on a moment-by-moment basis. And that’s the difference.

Call it overkill or whatever else you may want, but multiple calls a day, if time allows, put you in intimate contact with your distant loved ones in a way I never thought was possible until my wife and her family showed me how. Hopefully I’m not too old to learn some more things as well!

So what’s a phone call worth? Priceless … especially if you make them often enough to stay in intimate contact with your loved ones!

Thanks for reading “All About Seniors.” See you next week.

Bill Milby, CSA, is a Certified Senior Advisor and a Director of Visiting Angels® of Macon, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsMacon.

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