Landline phone connections
#39: 100-words on how sometimes, unbeknownst to us, we become angels
Landline phone connections
Bored, Talli and his friends made prank phone calls to strangers. One evening an old lady lovingly answered, “Son! I’ve been waiting...”
Talli ended the call.
Oddly, he called her back. She continued, “Son, I miss you so much…”
Soon Talli was calling the lady daily. And listening to her lovingly recount happier days.
One day she didn’t answer. A week went by. Talli tracked her number to an empty “For Sale” house.
The neighbors said, “She passed away peacefully, believing her wastrel son called everyday…”
Talli asked, “Where’s her son?”
They shook their heads. “He died ten years ago.”
###
reena | 03.20.2024
You can’t know what a kind word or moment of attention from you could do for someone, how far it could take them by the hand, what bridge it could lay down for them to cross over rough seas…
"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity."
— Simone Weil.
Extra!
Here’s a delightful read on finding a serendipitous friendship that another Substack writer I know, wrote recently, about how she and I discovered — after reading each other for a while — that we lived only a couple of blocks away! I love
’s writing and as you’ll see in this essay she’s masterful with her metaphors…
Absolutely beautiful story ❣️
We underestimate the power of our words on the lives. My life was transformed once by five kind words from a wise doctor. I am still grateful.