Great Expectations

I do not recall if I was ten or eleven when my daddy had my own phone line installed. And perhaps that doesn't seem like such a big deal these days, but in 1982-83 having your own phone was like today's pre-teen having their own Blackberry. I even had my name in the book. Was my daddy the coolest or what? I---K-n-o-w! Well, you see he had his own reasoning, and no it wasn't because I kept the line tied up night and day. Although I did. No, my daddy had something else in mind. He and my mom were divorced. (I thank God to this day they still got along.) He was setting the expectations even then. From the day that phone line was up and running to the morning of the day he died, he called me every single morning to tell me how wonderful I was and how much he loved me. Pitty the guy that had to follow that act.

My mom set them high as well. I remember I was in a pageant at Wallace Hall. My high school sweetheart was in the audience with her. When my name was called, Sean watched me walk out on the stage, looked at my mom and said, "I just can't believe she's my girlfriend." To which my mom replied, "Neither can I."

Sean lasted four years, the phone line lasted six. I still remember the number...MINE! not Sean's...492-0258.