12/9/19 That's the Good a Phone Call can Do

12/9/19
That's the Good a Phone Call can Do
by Holly Winter

Every time I call my friend Gayle, I say "Hello" in a different way. I'm not sure when this habit started, but this joking of a greeting has become a reflex.

Tonight Julie was at Gayle's house and I called so we could coordinate our trip to New York City.

The start of a phone conversation started with 'hello' in three syllables, "He" in a low voice, "lo" in a squeaky high voice, and the "oow" in a low voice again.

Gayle started laughing. And laughing.

Julie said in the background, "Why are you laughing? Nothing's funny."

That got me laughing.

Gayle and I laughed and laughed while Julie kept asking in the background what we were laughing about which made us laugh harder.

Finally Julie laughed, too.

After a few minutes of laughing, Gayle said she was going to put the call on speaker phone, but she must have hit a wrong button and the call was disconnected.

Which made me laugh even harder as I lay alone in my bed at 8:00 at night where I was resting because lying down helps the pleurisy (a virus on the outside of my lung) hurt less.

It doesn't matter that laughing hurts right now, because even though it hurts, it's as if the weight of worry is lifted when I laugh.

I called back, laughing so hard when she answered the phone that we all set off laughing again and might have continued but once again Gayle hit the speaker phone option and disconnected us, again.

It took three calls for us to stop laughing and remain connected so we could discuss our NYC trip.

I had been worried that I wouldn't be able to walk as fast as my friends or that I couldn't go home if I didn't feel well. But after all of the laughing, I decided there was nothing to be worried about.

That's the good a phone call can do.