— Hi!
— Hi!
— Are you busy, or can we talk?
— I can, but the water will be loud, I’m washing my face.
— That’s fine, no problem.
And so we talk, accompanied by the cheerful buzzing of an electric toothbrush, as if that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.
I adore my friends. Almost all of us are moms. None of us have any time at all, so we don’t really meet — we sort of fit into each other’s lives.
With one friend, I regularly “brush my teeth.”
With another, I somehow always talk while she’s in the bathroom (how I manage to time it so perfectly is still a mystery).
I accompany a third on her way to and from the office.
The fourth mostly listens in a taxi, but once she’s behind the wheel, she suddenly becomes very talkative.
The fifth calls from her travels and later sends real paper postcards — incredibly touching, and every time they inspire me to write one too… briefly.
Sometimes my friends accompany me — during my morning walks, while I’m waiting for the kids outside school, or just in between life.
And the most interesting conversations are with friend number one. That’s when I can’t sleep, and she’s eating at 2 a.m., having already put the whole family to bed.
And once, I was talking to almost all of them at the same time: water was running, a taxi was driving, someone was parking, voice messages were coming in — and suddenly I realized I understood everyone perfectly.
That’s when it became clear:
I don’t just have friends.
I have a multi-channel support system.
And if one of them disappears — it gets too quiet.
When do you talk to your friends? And what are you usually doing at the time?
— Hi!
— Are you busy, or can we talk?
— I can, but the water will be loud, I’m washing my face.
— That’s fine, no problem.
And so we talk, accompanied by the cheerful buzzing of an electric toothbrush, as if that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.
I adore my friends. Almost all of us are moms. None of us have any time at all, so we don’t really meet — we sort of fit into each other’s lives.
With one friend, I regularly “brush my teeth.”
With another, I somehow always talk while she’s in the bathroom (how I manage to time it so perfectly is still a mystery).
I accompany a third on her way to and from the office.
The fourth mostly listens in a taxi, but once she’s behind the wheel, she suddenly becomes very talkative.
The fifth calls from her travels and later sends real paper postcards — incredibly touching, and every time they inspire me to write one too… briefly.
Sometimes my friends accompany me — during my morning walks, while I’m waiting for the kids outside school, or just in between life.
And the most interesting conversations are with friend number one. That’s when I can’t sleep, and she’s eating at 2 a.m., having already put the whole family to bed.
And once, I was talking to almost all of them at the same time: water was running, a taxi was driving, someone was parking, voice messages were coming in — and suddenly I realized I understood everyone perfectly.
That’s when it became clear:
I don’t just have friends.
I have a multi-channel support system.
And if one of them disappears — it gets too quiet.
When do you talk to your friends? And what are you usually doing at the time?
