"Hurry Back"

So Pam left for her San Diego vacation at about 8:00 a.m. this morning. It's only 9:43 a.m., and already I'm consumed with the fact that I can't call her just to chat. This may sound ridiculous to some, but I have become accustomed to starting my day with my "sister call". Sometime after I drop Sarah at the bus and before Pam starts school with the kids, we begin our calling day. And it doesn't end there. On a normal day we will talk to each other two, three, four, sometimes even five times a day. It usually goes like this:

1st call (early morning): Eat cereal while I tell her what I'm planning on doing this morning.
2nd call (mid morning): Talk about something one of us forgot on the 1st call.
3rd call (late morning): Call to complain that I've picked Sarah up from the bus and didn't get anything done that I said I would do on the first call.
4th call (mid afternoon): Talk before we each head out the door for various afternoon activities.
5th call (evening): Call to see how the various afternoon activities went.

This may seem excessive, but I've grown accustomed to calling her whenever I think of something I need to tell her. I don't just make a mental list and do one call at the end of the day. After dealing with 2 kids all day, I don't have enough brain cells left for that. Besides, Pam is not only my sister, she is also my best friend. The conversations that we have throughout the day are a way of staying involved in each others lives despite the geographical distance.

We also have evolved a typically "Milam girl" phone call. I will call her when I'm going to Sam's to ask if she needs anything. She'll do the same when she goes to Target. I call her when we need a sub at Bunco. She calls me when she's heading to the beach to come join her. I call her when I'm taking the kids to Chik-fil-A for lunch to invite Pam and the kids along. Don't fear for our sanity, we both know that these are things that aren't actually possible. It's just one sister's way of letting the other sister know that she's missed and that we wish we could be there for each other.

Pam and I have invented a "Wonder Twin" Utopia that has us living next door to each other with a "shared" yard, Pam homeschooling the kids with me assisting, working together to shuttle the kids to various activities and taking turns making dinners. We both know that this reality will never come to pass, and, would be something less than idyllic if it ever did. So for now, talking on the phone a jillion times a day will have to do.

Moral of the Story: I'm going to Sam's do you need anything?