The Call Of The Day

The phone rang just after I had finished the lunch hour at work. The familiar residence number flashed on my cellphone. I took the call while I walked from my desk to a corner in the office for that much anticipated 5 minute conversation with my ten year old son.

“Hey mom,” he said, waiting for me to go on.

“Hello baby,” I said, cooing into the phone like any devoted mother.

“School was good today,” he said, anticipating the usual question.

“Okay, take a rest, make sure you eat something and then do your homework. I will be back around 7 o’clock,” I said.

“Right mom and then I shall watch television …okay bye.” Over and out.

There was nothing different in the call today and there will probably be only a slight variation in the next few days. Yet if this two minute call did not happen on a school day, I found it unsettling. The same questions, the same re-assurance, the same information….why?

I could not get myself to walk back to my desk and instead went to get some coffee. With my nice, warm coffee mug, I walked along the office lawns thinking about this daily ritual. It did take me on a guilt trip, the ones that working mothers often go through but then I checked myself and focused on the core concern – namely, what does this call mean to me and to my son?

The more I thought about the situation the more I seemed to look for “reasons and causes” and probable “solutions”. It was then that it dawned on me that every task, every action, every simple thing of routine life becomes a subject of scrutiny in a working mother’s life. It is one of the disadvantages of an extended corporate career!

As I relished the last few sips of my refreshing brew I told myself in very simple terms that I enjoy that call because I am a mother who wants to talk to her son and be a part of his life. It would have been easier if I were home and we could have a longer, livelier conversation but that’s no excuse for not having a two minute chat at all. That settled the question about me so then I picked up the phone and asked my son about this daily call routine.

He answered in a very innocent manner, “Mom, I feel special when we chat, because I know you are waiting for my call in your office.” That did it – the call was important to me because I was a mother of a ten year old who was special and felt special.

Natural bonding does not need justification or rationalization or statistical evidence!

As I finished my coffee, and I walked back to leave the used mug in the pantry, I could not help but smile at myself as another thought tempted me to enjoy a second cup of coffee. But I restrained myself. However, I made a mental note to ask my ‘stay at home’ friends whether they would have worried so much about this trivial thought that kept me busy at work today or would their question have changed to the more basic one such as, “Am I a nagging mom? ”

The phone rang again and this time it was the boss with an easy to answer question, “Have you finished the report yet?”

“Yes Sir,” I replied, and life was back to normal once again.