And suddenly, the sun walks in
I'm an inbox watcher. I admit it.I'm online at work (a necessity) for 9 hours straight, and I basically have access to the web and email 24/7. I love it, I can scarcely remember my pre-1995 life.
Remember:
Searching for a recent newspaper to look up movie times?
Getting a phone call from someone you only communicate with a few times a year (instead of an email)?
Stopping at a pay phone?
Looking up an address in the phone book, then using the phone book map to try and determine how to get there?
Ordering from a magazine as a convenience?
Taping songs off the radio?
Keeping newspaper clippings or magazines around because you knew you'd need the info in them sooner or later?
What a tiny world we lived in.
So, here I am, watching my inbox like I used to watch my phone. Instead of picking up the receiver to make sure the line is not dead, I send test messages to myself to make sure the server isn't down. I calculate the time difference between CST and GMT (let's see, it's only 8pm there, so I could still get a reply today), I worry about the wording in my last reply (perhaps it could be taken wrong), I worry that sending a follow-up email (just to make sure you got my last message) will display my otherwise well-hidden desperation.
One day passes, no big deal. Two days pass, uh oh. I guess that settles it. Fini. Well, better that I find out now then two months down the line. Next.
Then, like a scheduled batch run, the domain clouds part and the email pops up as if it was never in doubt. My words were taken as hoped, and reciprocated, and I read it so many times the screen saver goes off, and the sun truly walks in.
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