The Gift of Text

The invention of texting is one of the greatest gifts humans have given to the world.  When I first started to text it was on my very first cell phone, a flip phone, a small, sort of bullet-shaped motorola phone similar to this one:

I got it when I got married. And I loved it. I was so fast on that thing. Had some serious skillz.  I'm pretty grateful to have lived in a time when I did not have access to cell phones or smart phones as a teen.  When you had to find a phone to call home and there was no way to be on the internet at all hours of the day. Because I know that i would have been, and in my impressionable state would have found it very difficult to self-regulate. Even more difficult than now, i mean. 

People often complain about technology these days, and the implications thereof. I do that too.  How it's replacing real, face-to-face contact and nobody has any social skills.   How it provides an easy to way say things you would never say to someone's face--something I have a big problem with actually. And completely eliminates the need to moderate oneself.  I'm looking at you, Facebook. I'm always looking at you. 

But one thing i jumped on board with from the get-go is texting.  I love to text. Texting is the greatest.  I love it as a way to send a quick joke or thought or funny thing or picture or whatever to someone you care about.  Or want to care about.  It's an easy way to find out information without going through the labor of actually making a call.  One of the greatest sins one can commit is to need some info from someone, call them up (that is fine if they don't mind that. their prerogative) but then to leave a voicemail saying "call me back."  Aaaahhh why would you do that to me??  I love voicemails as a way to indirectly get information. Do i have a doc appointment and you're calling to remind me? Leave it in my voicemail. Also, my friend Ashley and I will call each other throughout the week and leave epic voice letters to each other where we fill up the time capacity once, twice, maybe three times (her voicemail time limit is only 3 minutes or less. Mine is a whopping 4. Not fair.)   Which we can listen to at our leisure.  They are GREAT.  But that other kind of voicemail is just... is just horrible.

Anyway, back to texting.  And nothing is sweeter than waking up in the morning to a good text or two.  Here's one I recently received from a friend in Bklyn. But first the backstory.  We used to meet up at our neighborhood ye olde bagel shoppe which was always hoppin'. It had bagels but was also a delicious deli of all kinds of cleverly named sandwiches, and treats, and drinks and snacks a-plenty. Love the bagel shoppe. You can choose from like ten or fifteen different bagels, and the same amount of cream cheese. You can put lox on it or get it toasted or a sandwich or whatever in the wide open world you would want.  

On the particularly busy days the line would wrap around the whole place, which was not very big.  You made your order at the counter and then slid down out of the way to wait to pay for it.  The girl at the cash register would call out your order and you'd claim it and pay.  One day, Suzie and I were waiting for our bagels (I usually got plain bagel + thin layer of cream cheese, sometimes toasted, sometimes not. I rarely veered from this) and there were many others in the shoppe.  When the cashier shouted out, "Bagel with cream cheese?"  We both busted right up and jokes were immediate:   "Did anyone order a bagel? To be specific, a bagel with cream cheese?"  Ohhh man, it's hard to re-tell jokes sometimes but it sure makes me laugh. 

Suzie's text:  "Bagel with cream cheese? Bagel with cream cheese??"

hey bagel girl, can i put your pic up on my blog? thanks