(Originally posted in Facebook on April 18, 2019)
A situation I noticed, as things have been changing lately, is that things that were once important to M don’t seem to be that important any more.
The job that I have now, and that I’ve had for the past eight years, is 30 miles and roughly 35 minutes away from home. I don’t know why, but when I started the job, M decided that he wasn’t happy with me driving so far from home and he wanted me to text him when I arrived at work every day. It wasn’t a big deal, it made him happy, so I did it – just a “good morning, love you” text for the day. There were some days that would get busy the minute I walked in the door and I might forget, but generally speaking, I would text him every work day.
When M changed positions with his job last summer, he was no longer in a job that allowed him access to his phone during the work day. So, even if I sent him a text, he wouldn’t see it. And, of course, he never responded to any of the texts I sent, so I stopped sending them.
Then yesterday happened.
There is a prison about five miles from here. Most of the inmates are older or under medical care, so it’s a minimum security prison. Yesterday, one of the prisoners escaped and was spotted near our office. I sent M a text, letting him know our business was on lock down and that no one could move about on our campus.
His response: OK.
Now I know, he’s not supposed to be using his phone while he’s working and if I’m texting him, then he knows I’m safe. But I know how my husband would have responded eight years ago to news that my company was on lock down. And then I compare that to an “OK” with no follow-up when he had lunch or a break . . . I just had to smile and shake my head. It was another one of those differences I’ve noticed.
BTW – they caught the guy about 10 miles from here, on his way to his home town. He didn’t get very far.