If you know him at all, you know he is a man of few words. What he says carries weight because he doesn't just idly chat. He's got a wicked sense of humor, but you have to know him a long time to see it. He doesn't talk on the phone. At all. He hates it. He never answers it and it was well after we were married that he would even care to figure out how to dial long distance. When calling from places like Hong Kong, Japan, or the UAE it involved a lot of numbers and a lot of patience.
My sister Robin and I used to have a running joke about my dear hubby. Our joke was about our family cell phone plan. We had 700 minutes and we would laugh that my Mom (who's on our plan) would use well over half of them, I would use about a quarter of them and Justin would use 3 minutes. In at least 5 phone calls. We laughed about it all the time, but it was true more times than it wasn't.
Getting him to call home even while on deployment was difficult. While stationed in Guam he spent many many months in Japan. They had a system set up where you could call home for free for 15 minutes per day. I got a phone call once a month, maybe. In the days before e-mail sometimes that was hard for me. I actually had one wife tell me "Your husband must not love you as much as he should. Certainly not as much as my husband loves me." To which I had to bite back saying something really, really not nice and move on. She wasn't joking. Rude, huh? He loved me, he just didn't love the phone.
This morning his work phone stayed home due to a late alarm and a rush for the door. It had been charging all night and just didn't make the transition to the uniform before he left. Just after his departure, it started ringing. And ringing. And ringing. Between 5:30 am and about 9 it must have gone off 10 times. At one point I answered it and told the person on the other line it had left at home. They guy tells me he works in the same office and offers to have Justin contact me about the phone. He did call from work. I mentioned his phone had been going off a lot to which he replied, "Yep. That's a typical morning for me."
What? He talks on the phone for work? A lot? A really lot from the sounds of the vibrating phone on the counter. Today I learned he is fully proficient in the use of his cell phone. He's a good manager and he's a busy guy at work. He works hard and does things that he doesn't enjoy so that others around him can have a better working environment and be more efficient. So go ahead, give him a call. He might even answer. Just don't expect a long conversation.
2 comments:
I can relate to you and Justin, when I worked a tele-marketing job, and was on the phone 8 hours a day five days a week, I hated to answer or talk on the phone at home. Bryan must not get too many calls at work though, because the first thing he does when he gets home is check the phone.
Three little words are all that is needed. It is evident that Justin LOVES you tremendously. Love the post.
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