I can neither confirm nor deny my having put my fist through a wall or that later on I wondered if I had broken my hand.
Nor can I deny or confirm it came from an argument that was based upon miscommunication and misunderstanding.
What I can confirm is if you are important to me I don’t hide or apologize for my feelings.
And I can confirm that I am not always good about asking for help when I might need it or even admitting that I can’t always get things done.
The Magic Of Miscommunication
I tried to explain some of these things to a certain teenage boy but I am fairly certain it wasn’t understood.
So I talked a bit about the purge of friends and things and sought to use that as a concrete example of what I was trying to get across but I am not certain that worked either.
A short time after the conversation above I received a note criticizing my writing which made me snort.
It wasn’t from the aforementioned teenage boy nor did it have anything to do with him, but it made me ask myself if the miscommunication was rooted in my ability to communicate my thoughts.
Took me about 30 seconds to say hell no because the comments in the email made it clear they hadn’t taken the time to really read what they were criticizing.
I made that clear in my response and highlighted the discrepancy they complained about and wondered if I made them feel stupid.
Though they deserved to feel dumb it wasn’t my goal to make them feel badly, especially because people don’t respond well to that and I needed a positive response.
Put Down The Phone
I have been trying to make a real effort to put my phone away when I am with people because it is too easy to glance at it and not pay attention to them.
And when I talk on the phone I try to use headphones because that helps me focus as well. It makes it easy for me to put the phone in pocket or somewhere else so that I don’t get distracted by emails or text messages.
It is all part of an effort to develop and maintain solid relationships with people.
*****
If we only communicate by text there is a good chance you’ll eventually stop hearing from me because I find it tedious to have nothing a but a text relationship with people who are supposedly important to me and me to them.
There are some exceptions and always will be, but it is not my preference.
*****
I took my daughter out while I was in LA and had a great time with her.
One of the best parts was sitting at a restaurant listening to her tell me about her life and her thoughts.
Partway through our meal I pointed out how it was hard to make eye contact with people at the restaurant because almost everyone had their eyes fixated on their phones.
Airplanes Are The Exception?
I lean towards using airplanes as the exception to my rule for trying to avoid locking myself into my electronic bubble.
Most of that has to do with my not being real fond of flying anymore and my desire to get lost in something that helps me pass the time.
But sometimes I wonder if I am missing out on some great people watching and or interesting conversations.
There have been a few times where I have met some really interesting people and had some fascinating talks with other people.
And of course there have been flights like this last one where the person next to me was too large for their seat and I was given the gift of human touch when I didn’t really want it.
But sometimes that is just how it goes.
I can neither confirm whether communicating with a tin can and string is better than text but I can say that parenting teens isn’t for the faint of heart.
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