Before email.
Before cell phones.
Before texting “u up?” at midnight.
There was this.
A quarter in your pocket. A number memorized. A line you hoped wasn’t busy.
We didn’t have unlimited access to each other. We had moments. You waited your turn. You listened to the dial tone like it meant something. You stretched every minute because long distance wasn’t cheap and neither was time.
And sometimes… you just stayed on the line.
That home line…ahhh I don’t miss it but that feeling would hit hard these days. Not talking. Just breathing. Hoping the other person wouldn’t hang up. Falling asleep with the receiver pressed to your ear because somehow that felt like being next to them.
We didn’t have constant connection.
We had intentional connection.
And maybe that’s why it felt so big.