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I worked at a bank during college and this elderly woman used to call frequently and ask for me. When I’d get on the phone she’d ask me the date and then hang up after I told her. On my last day of work I informed her I quit and gave her my cell so she could keep calling me.
She called for another year, usually once or twice a week and we’d talk for a while. Then one day she stopped. I never met her and didn’t know what happened. About 6 months after her last call I tried to call her number and the phone just rang and rang.
I tried again a few more times until her number was disconnected. I was 24 and I remember feeling heartbroken when I heard the operator message, like I had lost a grandparent.
I didn’t know her last name and I didn’t know much about her. Our conversations were never very substantive, but I always felt so happy after we spoke.
I had totally forgotten about this until yesterday when I was at a grocery store and I heard a nearby employee answer a phone, tell someone the date, and then hang up. I asked him what that was all about and he told me it was an older woman who calls sometimes for that reason.
I know it’s not the same person. My friend stopped calling me 12 years ago and she was pretty old then and lived in a different city. But I got into the car and couldn’t stop thinking the whole way home how much I miss our chats.
No sensational conclusion here. Just an innocuous story that has me feeling a little nostalgic tonight as I lie in bed wishing I had let my old friend know how much her calls meant to me while I had the chance.
