Improvements in Texting

My Munchkin Girl has been away visiting family and friends. Seems like she goes away more and more these days. She's got plans this year to do some traveling. A train trip and an across the ocean trip, as well as a camp or two. Luckily, I'm included in some of those trips. She's got wings. That girl is going places. But Momma still gets to go along sometimes. She's growing, growing, grown... but she's not gone. Not long term, anyway. Not yet.

Her last road trip, I asked her to send me a text each day. I don't worry about her when she's away, but it is nice to hear from her. Last year, when she went to Delaware for a week, she and I didn't communicate at all. She had a phone and I kept my phone on me. I think we both had the idea that we could communicate if the need was there, but we didn't. At the end of the week, while I was waiting to pick her up, another girl's mom was telling me how she heard from her daughter 3 or 4 times a day. Calls and texting. We don't do a lot of that around here. I guess I'm the mom who always assumes everything is good, unless I hear otherwise. I don't expect reports. I just keep the phone near in case anything needs to be reported.

So when she laughed at me and asked why I would want a text each day, I said (not seriously) that I didn't want to have to be jealous that the other kids called home and talked to Mom each day. I didn't want to have to admit to other moms that I'd heard nothing and I was just assuming all was well.

She did text and it was fun to hear from her. And she's done it most days this time, as well. And the bonus, for me, is that I may finally be figuring out this whole texting thing. I sent a couple of notes long enough this time they cost me 2/3 of a minute rather than 1/3. I've almost got the pauses and the number of taps down pat for every letter of the alphabet. I text without apostrophes, because getting to the apostrophes exhausts me, but I'm picking up speed. I'm growing more confident in my ability to make that silly little phone speak my language -- written language.

Going to pick her up tomorrow. Looking forward to having her home again. Looking forward to hearing all of her stories. Looking forward to hearing her voice rather than reading her texts.