My Dad's here to visit me for the first time since I moved South.  This was a very big move on his part.  A maniac hoakie leaving the state of his birth to come and visit his daughter. 

I wasn't sure he was really going to come at first because we got into an argument over the phone a few days before he was scheduled to arrive.  Sometimes he gets short with me I should have known better. 

The conversation went like this:

Me:  "Hi, it's me."

Dad:  "Ya."

Me:  "I was just thinking of something."

Dad:  "What? "

Me: " You know how I was telling you about the square down here and all the entertainment that goes on?
 

Dad:  "What?  What?  What are you trying to tell me?  Get to the point."  (in a very rushed and raised angry tone of voice) 

Me:  "What's the matter with you?  Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" 

Dad:  "Just tell me what you want to tell me" (again raising his voice with a "for crying out loud" ring to it).

Me:  (getting very upset and feeling very rushed) "I'm trying to but you won't let me. I must be interrupting something."

Dad:  (with a guilty laugh-bingo!) "ya, Bill O'Reilly's on." 

Me:  (now insulted and hurt) "All I was trying to tell you was that if you had fifties syle clothes and want to dress up they're having a special rock n' roll 50's night.  But I'll talk to you later when you have more time."

And I hung up on him.  I'm thinking now.  Why even pick up the phone at all if you're going to act like that?  When I receive a phone call at night after my husband and I sit down to watch a movie (usually after 9 pm) I don't pick up the phone.  I let it ring.  Usually I check to see if it's one of the kids.  If so I do pick up for them but I've got caller ID and I just figure I'll call whoever it is back later.  No biggie. 

In the past whenever the phone would ring, I'd rush to answer it no matter what I was doing.  My husband never felt such a fettish for the phone.  Left to him, he'd just let it ring and not bother.  When asked about it he'd answer, "I put the phone in for my convenince not for others to get ahold of me whenever they want."

We used to get into arguments about this because he'd be right next to the phone and I"d be rushing in from outside to answer it.  I never could rely on him to answer it for sure.  Most of the time he does, I guess, but not always.  But if he's busy, he has no problem just letting it ring. 

He felt if it were important, they'd call back. 

So I wondered.  It would be just like my dad to say "the heck with her. I'm not going to visit her since she hung up on me."   But then I counted the cost and knew it was like throwing away alot of money invested in this train trip all the way from the rainy NE to sunny Florida. 

Sure enough, he got off the train as expected and when I gave him a hug I said, "hello cranky."  He laughed.  He knew what I was talking about. 

"Next time", I told him, "don't answer your phone.  It's there for your convenience" 

He said, "good point."