On Wednesday I had an experience that every parent dreads. It was 4:00 AM and my phone rang. When I finally got awake enough to realize it was MY phone and not the television I had left on when I went to bed and I struggled to get out of bed to answer it….it had quit ringing. My display showed “TJ”, my son. Well, needless to say, my heart fell on the floor because you don’t usually get phone calls at 4:00 in the morning unless something is wrong. I immediately called TJ back and the call went directly to his voice mail. That scared me even more. I checked my computer to see if he was on Facebook. Let me insert a little explanation here. TJ, Ray and I are very much alike in that we are all night owls. It isn’t unusual for me to be up at 2:00 in the morning. They are both the same way. That is why I decided to check the computer. Well, according to Facebook, he was online. So I pulled up the chat window and typed: “Did you just call me? I couldn’t get to the phone in time and tried to call you right back but it went to your voicemail. I am up so please call me back.” I waited a few minutes and then decided it was all a mistake and went back to bed. I had not gotten back to sleep when the phone rang again; it was 4:09. The display again showed TJ. I didn’t try to call him back that time. I just figured he had dialed me by mistake and I wasn’t going to call him again. I know his wife is a pretty light sleeper and has to be because she gets calls at all hours of the night – she is a vet and is on 24 hour call. But, when I went back to bed, I took the phone with me, holding it in my hand. No more calls came during the night and I tried to put it all out of my mind. I asked God to please keep everyone safe and let it just be a mistake.
After getting to work Thursday morning and taking care of several clients that had stopped by to pick up their payroll reports and W2’s, I tried to call TJ again. The call went straight to voice mail. I have a phone code with my boys. I know if the calls goes to voice mail, they are usually busy and just can’t take the call. But they know if I call back right away, it is important that I speak with them. So, I called him right back; again the call went to voice mail. By this my “Mom instincts” had kicked in in full force. So, I called Amy – again to voice mail. By this time I had decided something was really wrong. I left Amy a message telling her what had happened during the night and that I had tried to call TJ and the calls kept going to voice mail. I asked her to please call me as soon as she could.
I usually go to the post office and bank between 11:30 and 12:30 and I hardly ever take my cell phone with me. This time I decided to take it but before I could get out of the office, Amy returned my call. She apologized for not answering but she was busy with an animal when I called. She said she saw my call come in on TJ’s phone at 4:00, but she never answers his phone. She said she knew if it was important I would call right back. When I didn’t, she just figured I had dialed his number by mistake, etc. She said TJ had been having some problems with his phone for a few days; in fact her phone rung one morning at 3:00 and when she picked it up, the display showed TJ and he was laying the bed beside her sound asleep. I was just thankful everyone was ok and there wasn’t any problem of any kind.
Shortly after getting back from my errands, the office phone rung and it was TJ. He apologized for worrying me. We laughed about it, both of relieved. Then he went on to explain what he thinks happened. THIS IS THE CULPRIT!!!
Meet Bodie, the new ferret. I mentioned several emails ago the other ferret, Jacob had passed away and the entire family was very sad. So about 2 weeks ago, they got Bodie. Ferrets are very curious animals. Bodie is very tame and has the run of the house. He has taken over part of Bonnie’s bed. Bonnie is TJ’s Australian Shephed. TJ uses his bluetooth headseat with his cell phone pretty much all of the time and Bodie was attracted by the blue light on it and decided it looked like the perfect toy. Now, how could I scold Bodie? Look at that face!!
This is a picture of Jacob. He was a really neat little dude. I couldn’t imagine why they wanted a ferret; but after meeting Jacob, I totally understood. He will always be a part of their lives and they gave him a final resting place in the flower garden. TJ and Amy made a special cross for him.
I guess I love my “grandanimals” as much as my grandchildren. I have always loved animals, especially dogs. My Daddy was an avid deer hunter and we always had dogs around, sometimes as many as 10. My Haley is one of my best friends. She knows all my secrets, she lets my cry when I need to and she can always make me smile. This is my Haley girl – where she most likes to be – in my bed.
I hope I haven’t totally bored you with my animal stories.
Let me tell you one more phone story. When TJ was living in Greenville and had just started working full time, he often visited Perkins, a restaurant that was open 24 hours. Remember, he is a night owl. One Saturday morning about 3:00 he was in Perkins having coffee with a couple of new friends he had met there. He took out his cell phone and started to call someone and the friends asked who in the world was he calling that time of morning. His comment…”Mom”. They thought he was crazy; in fact one of them said his Mom would kill him if he called her that time of the morning and he wasn’t dying!! When I answered the phone the first thing TJ said was that he was okay. So, I asked why had he called. He wanted to tell me about the new friends he was having coffee with. When he told me who it was, I was pretty sure he was lying to me so he passed the phone to one of them. He was having coffee with Michael Jordan and Evander Holyfield. They were in Greenville for a golf tournament. I actually got to speak with both of them and Michael told me what a cool mom he thought I was that my son could call me like that and I not be mad at him.
I hope all of you had a great day today. I did some work at Church this morning, went for a nice walk with my best friend Candi and Haley and then spent a quiet afternoon. I even managed to get a little nap in. I am really looking forward to tomorrow and Church. Have a great Sunday.
Brenda
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