The Text

In 2010, my parents decided to take up texting. At first I thought it was a little strange, then I eventually thought it was funny, then...I was a little annoyed and now I think they are finally getting it. At first my parents were very anit-text. I think they were a little nervous about the idea of sending brief messages to their children. They might have thought is was impersonal, uninformative and inconvenient.

Fast forward to around June 2010...Dad starts texting. The day I got my first text message from my father was around 9:00am on a Wednesday morning, "where are you?" I was kind of shocked that it was from my Dad and thought huh?...he's finally caved into texting! I replied with, "at work." Yeah, because I'm usually always at work on a Wednesday around 9am. So we exchanged a few more text messages and all was good.

Then the weekend came upon us. It was Saturday around 7:30am ET (so this is 6:30am Texas time). The text from my father said, "Good morning." Okay Pop, the nickname I call my father, just because it is a text and not a phone call doesn't mean that it doesn't still wake me up. The phone call rules still kind of apply to the texting rules in the sense that you don't call or text around certain hours. We had to talk.

December 2010. I go home for Christmas and I was watching television with my Mother in one room and my father was in the TV room watching some football game. Mom recieves a text. I say, "who was that?" Mom replies, "your father, he wants to know what we are doing for dinner." Me, "you mean to tell me, you all are texting each other now and no longer calling when in fact you are only a room away from one another?" Mom, "Yes."

Well...

I'm proud of my parents for embracing technology...like 3 years later. But still, this is a good step. My Mom is really into sending mass text messages now because she gets a kick out of all the responses. I think she will like FB and Twitter. Maybe 2 years from now?

This all stems from a link a friend shared with me the other day that I thought was hilarious. Here it is so you can enjoy it too, When Parents Text.

So to all the parents, grandparents and others out there. Don't be afraid of texting. But when you text, please keep in mind that it still kind of counts as a phone call in the sense that the phone call protocols still somewhat apply. Text away! Oh...but make sure your phone plan includes a text plan because if it doesn't....you are going to be sorry you sent and received so many text messages.