Monday, February 06, 2006

Birthday voicemail

Since my cell phone is broken, I've been using the house phone to check my messages. I checked my voicemail only to find that my mom had called on Sunday to wish me a happy birthday. This is only surprising because 4 years ago she got both the day (the 6th) and my age (18 in 2002) wrong!
An excerpt from the phone conversation (she was in Cabo for her yearly 'I'm so depressed I have to go to a really hot place for 3 weeks' winter trip which always seems to fall around my birthday):

Mom: Hi honey

Gingerbread: Hey mom, what's up?

Mom: Just giving you a quick call to wish you a happy birthday on Friday

Gingerbread: Yeah...it's on Wednesday

Mom: Whatever; you know what I mean!

Gingerbread: Right...

Mom: You got the card and the present I sent right?

Gingerbread: Thanks, I did. Just one thing, you know I'm turning 18 right?

Mom: Yes...

Gingerbread: It's just that you wrote 'Happy 19th' in the card

Mom: Oh that (awkward pause). I know how old my only child is, I was just in a rush! Oh honey, you know what? I have to go; we have a scuba diving lesson at noon.

In her defense, my mom is an advertising exec who works 14 hour days.

The best part of the birthday message is how inept my mom sounds on voicemail. She's just one of those people who thinks that answering machines are unable to pick up on the intricacies her voice unless she yells while speaking very slowly. So even though the content of the message likely only comprised of a few sentences, it took me a full minute to listen to the message, which she started and finished with 'this is your mother', as if I wouldn't recognize her voice.

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