As time seems to be moving too quickly, on occasion I find myself listening for people, some from the past, some current.
I’m a fan of Billy Crystal, the actor and comedian. I read and really enjoyed Crystal’s book 700 Sundays. In the book he tells a story about a very late night call he got from his mother about a year before she passed.
At the time he was living in California, and his mother was living in New York. The phone rang at what was about three in the morning in New York and after midnight in California. As most of us know, calls at such a time are not always a good call. “Mom? Mom are you okay?” were his first words to her. “Yes, yes I’m fine,” came the reply. “But Mom, it’s after three in the morning there.” “Billy, Billy I know, but I just wanted to hear your voice, that’s all. I woke up your brother, too; I just wanted to hear your voices.” He said again, “Mom, are you sure you are okay?” Crystal said there was a pause, and then his mother said, “Oh, I’ve been listening for you boys. I guess I just wanted to once again hear your voices.”
She was eighty-five years old at the time. Her sons were scattered across the country, but she was listening for them: the sound of a car pulling in the driveway, the jingle of keys in the front door lock: the sounds that said they were now safe at home. Crystal said that about a year later she passed, and they sold the house. Somebody else owns it now.
I can relate to Crystal’s mother. There are times now that I would, so badly, just like to hear certain voices.
How about you, anybody’s voice out there you would like to hear?
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April 19, 2009
Keep on,
Larry Adamson