Phone Calls

I am not a huge fan of phone calls and the older I get the crankier I am about them.  I have rules in my head for proper phone etiquette.
 
No calls before 9 A.M. and none after 9 P.M.
Don't call me and ask who is this, you called me.  You may ask if you are speaking to Janet.
Don't call me and then put me on hold, I will hang up.
Do not call me while you are in the bathroom.
Do not call me while chewing food or gum.
If we are talking on the phone, do not also carry on a conversation with people on your end.
Telemarketers on the East Coast, figure out the time zone differences, 8:00 for you is 5:00 in the morning here.  etc., etc., etc.

I have more, but you get the idea.  Not a fan of talking on the phone.  I love email, texting, SKYPING, voicemail.  I hate calling businesses and being on hold for 45 minutes.  Yet there are times I love the phone.

I have a friend I call every month or so and we talk for over an hour.  I have not seen her in person in years.  But I love talking to her.  Family is good for long phone calls, SKYPE is better. Then there are the surprise phone calls.

This week a friend sent a text to find a time she could call me.  She no longer lives in California and I miss her.  We used to go to lunch every week.  And then she moved away.  We emailed every now and then.  We are both on Facebook, but she reads more than posting.  So we set up a time for her to call.  We talked for over two hours.  We only hung up because with the time difference, she needed to go to bed.  We caught up on each of our families, we laughed, we may have cried a little.  We picked up right where we left off years ago.  Friends can reconnect immediately, acquaintances not so much.

I miss you Donna.

Future wedding, a phone call, and weddings

I don’t just do marriage ceremonies.  Sometimes I become the bridal consultant.

Monday after I finished a wedding, I saw a couple go into the wedding room.  I asked if I could help them.  They told me they were planning a wedding for next week and just checking out the room.  It was the groom and his mother.  The bride couldn't take off work to do the research.  Mom was taking copious notes for the bride.  She made notes on how many the room would hold, the type of ceremonies we offer, the best time of day to come, parking, style of dress.

We talked and I hope I gave them all the info they needed.  The plan is for them to marry on this Wednesday afternoon.  So I should get to do the ceremony this week.

I picked up a wedding party.  There was a large group and they were having a great time.  The bride and groom had a little girl dressed in a black dress with sparkles across the front yoke.  They also had a baby around 6 months old dressed in a tux.  How cute is that, a baby in a tux?  The groom was high fiving  everyone.  In the elevator I said something and he yelled HIGH FIVE!  So for the first time in my life, I high fived.  As they said their vows, they high fived.  After I pronounced them married everyone high fived them.

It seemed strange to me but it seemed to be the couple’s thing.

The groom wore a black suit and a red rose boutonniere. The bride looked like a schoolgirl.  She wore black leggings with matching shorts.  She had on a red plaid ruffled top that came down on her hips with a red sweater.  The sweater had a bow on the back at the waist that was red plaid. She carried a red roses bouquet and wore a red rose corsage.  She looked darling.  A very young look and yet at the same time very fashion forward.

Last Sunday a phone call was left on the marriage desk’s voice mail.  A woman said, “ I have a question.  This guy and I came in and bought a license . . . “  (  D and I loved it  this guy.  Not boy friend, not fiancé. Just this guy) She rambled on and asked to be called back.  D called her back Monday.  The woman said the license is for 90 days and about to expire, is she married?  What should she do?  D asked if she had had a ceremony.  She said no, they broke up.  D told her she isn’t married,  to do nothing, just let the license expire.