How R U? My Leap Into the World of Texting

So Blake and Nick have been gone for four days now. The house has been quieter than usual -- or at least as quiet as it can get with two of four kids gone.

Blake took his phone with him, so in the past few days, I've been practicing my text messaging skills -- something I never thought I would do.

Actually I think I have Amy to thank for getting me started on the whole text thing, which months ago just seemed way too complicated for me.

A text message popped up on my phone one day. Cool, I thought. Fast forward a few weeks and I'm sitting at the indoor soccer complex at Nicky's practice. Bored, I start playing with the phone and figure out how to text. So I send Brett a series of messages: "Hi. I'm trying this out." "Did you get this?" "Pls make sure AI is set up to record." To which, if I recall correctly, I received a "Yes, dear" reply. Code phrase for "You're getting on my nerves."

So there began my journey on the text messaging highway. After a recent girls day out with Amy, I saw that she's an avid texter. So I began texting her.

Fast forward to this past Saturday morning as Blake was getting ready to leave for his trip to visit my parents in Sacramento.

"Hey, Blake, do you know how to text?" I ask him.

"Yeahhh," he said, with the "duh" inflection in his answer.

"OK -- text me."

So there it began.

"Mom, we're at a restaurant eating."

"Mom, we're at jamba juice."

"Mom, we're setting up our tent."

"Mom, yes, record some of the Euro soccer games 4 me."

"Mom, Nicky's not eating his dinner."

So clearly Blake's enjoying his texting privileges. I didn't realize, though, that he'd use it to try to rat out his brother.

"He'll be OK. Have fun. Luv u," I reply, quietly soaking up the week-long respite from the brotherly bickering.