Text me when you’re home

Sure, this phrase is the outcome of years and years of hearing the news, hearing the stories and hearing the traumas of what is happening in the world, but to me, this is one of the most endearing things my close ones can say to me.

And I say it to them quite a lot. But not really to let them know I am home, nobody ate my brains, tripped me, harassed me or yelled at me “YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW SUCKS” (well, Friends cannot possibly suck, duh!), it’s usually to let them know I enjoyed the time I spent with them and I appreciate their presence in my life. Ok, I don’t always use these vanilla words, but that’s the sentiment behind them.

But sometimes I do text them just to let them know I made it home safely because sometimes the walk home does feel scary. Although I try not to pay too much attention to the news, the stories and the traumas using ignorance as a protective shield, sometimes they do get to me. I picture all these scenarios of what people could do to me so that when I do get home, I cocoon in that little text message I send to my mother or the friend I just saw – “I am home now”.

Of course, one may wonder why a 27-year old petite female is walking home alone at night when she knows how many dangers there are out there. Well, that 27-year old petite female enjoys the fresh air, has thoughts she needs to put in place, likes to moderately move her body, likes the quietness of the streets she cannot find during the day because she lives in a busy neighborhood, has had some delicious gin and tonic and her body is now in some sort of musical trance hung up on the lovely night she’s had. That’s what she’s doing at night. And if she’s asking for anything, she’s simply asking for some peace.

I text my friends to let them know that they still remain with me even after we part ways and wobble home. But it’s pretty selfish, really. I text them because I imagine they feel all warm inside when they read the message and that makes me feel all warm inside. Sometimes I sum up the encounter we just had to let them know I do pay attention and I do care. Other times I make fun of how they behaved that night, but that’s more of a morning text for when they sober up. I text them to let them know how I feel or just to make a little more fun of them. I text them to tell them how much the night meant to me or simply to thank them. And I always, always text my mother when I’m home.

I’ve been doing this for many years, it all started with my friend V. with whom I exchanged the cheesiest of tipsy texts of how much our friendship meant to us and, to this day, this is one of the memories I treasure the most. I’m pretty sure if I scroll hard enough, I can find those texts, but I don’t really have time for the waterworks right now!

So… text me when you’re home.

(“Am ajuns acasa” means “I made it home”)

PS: These are a couple of recent texts I sent to the friends I saw this week and the texts I send my mother whenever I come home so that she knows I’m safe (my mom thinks I hang out in dungeons filled with dragons and ghosts and zombies and all sorts of unfriendly creatures of the night). I didn’t want to scroll through older conversations fearing the same waterworks. But you get the point.

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