The Cooling Stream

Do you enjoy talking through the phone? When you have a lot of things to talk to someone, do you prefer to phone him or her, or do you rather talk to him or her face to face?

My friend's wife and children have to leave him to go back to her village because her father has suffered a severe stroke recently. It was decided that she is to stay there for a year. She is the only child, and there is no one else who can take care of her father in the village. They have also decided to transfer their eldest child to a village school.

Besides rushing home to his wife's village every weekend, my friend also phones her and his boys every evening. Once in a while he would tell me about his joy of talking through the phone to his family.

I believe many of us would prefer to speak face to face to someone or someones who are very close to us. Talking through the phone just cannot explain everything in our mind and heart.

I remembered in the past when I had to take some work-related courses somewhere, and had to leave home for a time. During the period, I always thought of my wife and her miseries of taking care of my three naughty little children. Talking through the phone was really difficult initially, but it did help me realize my love and my longing for my wife and my children.

Some very shy friends of mine would prefer to talk through the phone with their new found love. Are you like them, and do you prefer to see her face to face?

Talking through the phone requires careful attention. Words can build up good relationship; words can also tear down a beloved family. It would be wise to plan carefully what we want to say instead of fumbling through the phone.

When my friend told me how much fun he derived from talking to his family through the phone, I knew what he meant. In fact, I could feel for him; absence really makes the heart grows fonder. I had known it before. Oh yes! It was so very true and painful!

Some of my friends have to work very far from home for a long long while. I understand how they must have suffered. It is never easy to leave the home sweet home, especially if you are newly wedded, or have young children at home. And then talking about sharing through the phone...

I looked at my friend who continued to relate to me his joy of talking through the phone...

I could see the tears in his eyes.