The other night we were visiting with Dom’s sister, Evy, and she pulled out some photos her husband took of her about eight years ago on a whale watch. The interesting thing is that I’m in the background of those pictures, leaning against the railing, eight years younger, much skinnier applying chapstick and completely unaware of the camera.
That whale watch was an outing of the young adult group at our parish. It was my first weekend in Massachusetts and my first introduction to the group. Little did I guess that I was spending the day with my future in-laws.
Dom wasn’t on the whale watch but later that evening he joined the group at a local beach where we all sang songs under the stars. I don’t remember seeing him there and he doesn’t remember seeing me; but it was our first meeting nonetheless. The introduction I do remember was after mass one Sunday. I recall that quite clearly, though again had no inkling at the time I was meeting my future husband. It would be four years before I had an inkling.
Anyway, it was a fun surprise to look at those pictures of a younger Evy and a younger me enjoying a day in the sun, and to wonder what the me then might have thought if she could have a similar glimpse of today: a Sunday afternoon nursing my baby while my toddler runs around with Evy’s four kids. I think she’d have liked what she saw.
Arranging playdates is excruciating. In our eight-plus years of marriage, I’ve never ordered the pizza.
He never noticed until I pointed it out.
I don’t have a phobia like you describe but I certainly hate talking on the phone except to a few people. I must prefer e-mail.
I share your reticence. God invented email just for me—making phone calls and getting letters in the mail is extremely difficult. I even pray for healing, to no avail. With three daughters, I’m wondering if it would be gauche (by then, 2012 or later?) to do invitations (and all wedding planning) by email/internet. We’ll see!
Well, we’re both afflicted. I’m more likely to order the pizza and he’s more likely to answer the phone even if it’s not a close friend or relative.
Mercifully, just about every invitation we receive these days, save wedding invites, includes an email RSVP.
Ourselves, we haven’t included an RSVP phone number on any invitation we’ve sent out in more than 5 years. For folks who took the trouble to look up our number and call us with their replies, sorry you went straight to voice mail. We couldn’t possibly have been home, really.
My older brother shares this trait. His wife handles all interactions with contractors, hotels, restaurant staff, etc.
“You talk to the pizza man” is his general phrase whenever he needs her to handle some interaction. The funny thing is that he has a job as a Human Resources manager.
I actually do better with calling strangers. I get really nervous calling friends, especially if we haven’t talked in awhile. My heart beats quickly and I a half-hope to get an answering machine.
You say: I’m phone shy and email is my saving grace. For me, truer words were never spoken, although I’m not as bad as my husband, and he doesn’t even have my excuse that English is my second language (I’m Italian)
Speaking of him, that’s also how we got to know each other, by the way… by email! (I wrote a letter to the editors of the magazine where he was working back then to comment on one of his articles… what a story 
)
So, three cheers for email, I say!
I’ll almost always choose email over dialing, even if it results in some interaction taking hours longer than it would if I just made a call. It’s just a preference, not a phone phobia, but it’s become more pronounced over time.
Once I’ve made the call, I never have a problem chatting. But with email, it’s easier to control the scope of the conversation.
I have this phonophobia. as well, and I have known others who do. Does anyone have an idea about WHY this is? What is so uncanny about the telephone? Obviously there is something, because so many people experience this fear.