I scribbled my feelings on stationery paper, in cursive and all. RELATED: Childless Woman Asks If She’s Wrong For Not Giving Up Her Days Off For Co-Worker With 3 Children I picked out the purple hydrangea from our garden and inserted them into the envelope. I decorated the stationery with scratch-and-smell vanilla cupcake stickers. The last touch — applying my mom’s reddest lipstick and kissing the envelope. I cycled to the post office, half an hour away from our house, licked the stamp, and away it flew. Every evening, giddy with anticipation, I opened the mailbox, sifting through junk mail. When the letter arrived, I ripped the envelope, glitter spilling, me giggling, feeling warm and fuzzy. I had waited days for a response, and I was going to soak in as much detail as I could before I wrote my reply. The whole process left me giddy with excitement. Forward to 2022. I message my friend on WhatsApp. No response for a day. Then: My friend: “Hey. What’s up?” Me: “Hey, just saying hi. How are you doing?” …2 minutes later… My friend: “Good. Busy at work, but good. You?” Me: “Oh, you know, just being a mom, same old.” …8 minutes later… RELATED: Woman Ask If She Was Wrong For Calling Her Dad ‘Creepy’ After He Commented On Her ‘Revealing’ Running Clothes My friend: “Good for you!” Me: “How’s Thomas?” …1 minute later… My friend: “He’s good. Looking for a new job.” Me: “What kinda job is he looking for?” …Disappears We’re all busy. I’m a mom to a 3-year-old boy, for god’s sake. I get it. One can’t expect a response to a message immediately, consistently, or with full attention — all the time. But I do like a text saying that you’re going to be busy for a bit instead of waiting all day for a response. I’m the unfortunate type who cares a whole lot about text messaging etiquette. My husband doesn’t. He couldn’t care less if his friends don’t respond or they leave mid-sentence. RELATED: Woman Asks If She’s Wrong For Deliberately Throwing Her Daughter’s Birthday Party On Her Stepsister’s Wedding Day But…how about if that happened face-to-face? Of course, he minds, he says. Back to me being that unfortunate type who considers text messaging like face-to-face meetings. I find it super rude to just leave without explanation or to keep the person waiting on the other side mid-conversation. Am I just an old ‘80s fart? Perhaps. Should I become less caring? Perhaps. Do I want to? No. I live with the unfortunate curse of being considerate in the time of text messaging. Can y’all relate? RELATED: Woman Asks If She’s Wrong For Running Away From Biological Daughter She Was Forced To Give Birth To When She Was 15 June Kirri is a freelance journalist and personal essay writer who writes about culture, parenting, and mental health. This article was originally published at Medium. Reprinted with permission from the author.
