The other day I was on the phone with one of my best friends, bemoaning my employment situation… I wasn’t sure if I should seize the opportunity to perform an odd job for Dan.

For the millionth time, I called him out on his dinosaur of a cell phone. You can’t even view a pix message on it! While it is good fun to bust on your loved ones, his phone is legitimately on the verge of extinction and I am genuinely concerned that it will die, taking all his contacts down into the fiery pit of cel hell. He said he would pay me to put all of his phone numbers down on paper. I wasn’t sure whether I had gotten that desperate yet. I mean, I have a masters degree. But I don’t know whether I can afford to be a snob right now.

As I pondered the issue with my bud Natalie, she asked me, “Why do you care so much whether Dan’s phone dies?” I thought about why I get such joy out of making fun of his phone and decided it was just the way I was raised. I remember asking my dad why he was so mean to his best friend behind his back. He grinned and said “Pammie, its nothing I wouldn’t say to his face!” And it was true. I’d seen him rail on Uncle Aron time and time again, calling him names, making fun of him, and playing practical jokes at his expense. Early in my life, I learned that this was how you express love.

The issue of Dan’s phone was not born purely out of love however. I admit there are some significant alterior motives. To Natalie I replied, “The problem is, what if I need to call him and his phone is dead!!??? I know he knows my number… I made sure he memorized it, just in case. But seriously, you know the day I am really in trouble, lost (not in a lake), with a flat tire, or stuck in the emergency room or having some other disaster, that’s going the be the day his phone breaks, and then I will freak out because I won’t be able to call him!!!!!!” She laughed, “So it’s all about you, huh?”

Pretty much yeah.