I am that friend people go to when they have an issue.
Your boyfriend broke your heart, call Allison. You’re freaked out about a job interview, text Allison for a pep talk.
It’s a role I have grown accustom to over the years. I had a complicated childhood and have survived a lot, so I guess people just figure I know a thing or two.
It’s not that I mind the role, per se, but every once in a while it gets to be a bit much.
I remember one time in particular when my husband and I were just trying to sit down at home and enjoy a movie. That was not meant to be.
Just as we were getting into the movie, about 15 minutes in or so, I get a text. “Can you talk?”
If you know anything about the world of females this text is a, “I’m in crisis and need to talk now or I will assume you are not there for me and hold it against you for years,” kind of text. This is a text you do not ignore.
Of course I pause the movie, much to my husband’s annoyance, and talk my friend off of whatever proverbial ledge she was on that day. All is well and I leave her feeling hopeful and like she can get through the rest of the day. Excellent, now we can get back to the movie. Or so I thought.
Not 20 minutes later I get another phone call from another friend in need.
This time it’s from a male friend who only seems to call me when he needs a good, long conversation about the state of his life. Again, the movie is paused and I hop to being a good friend to lean on.
That “crisis” averted, we try once again to get back into this movie that we had now been trying to watch for more than an hour. Sadly, we never did make it to the end as yet another of my friends ended up needing a pick-me-up chat.
It’s great that people feel comfortable enough to turn to me for help. I love my friends and would do almost anything for them but sometimes I just want to sit and watch a movie with my husband.
In addition to being the problem-solver for my friends, I’m the person my co-workers turn to for solutions to their work-related problems. That’s my job and I’m not complaining but it can make it tricky for me to remember what the heck it was I was doing before a co-worker needed help.
And it doesn’t end when I leave the office for the day. In this business there are no set hours and I am often interrupted in the evening with breaking news, updates from reporters at events, social media questions or comments from readers, emails and so on.
Sometimes it can all be too much. Every once and a while a girl just needs some peace and quiet.
This is why my hubby and I are packing up our dogs, getting a cooler of beer and turkey hotdogs, and camping for the weekend. The best part? I won’t have my phone.
No texts from work. No calls from people needing advice. No emails from the condo board. No reason to not just sit and enjoy the company of my hubby and the peaceful setting.
Of course by day two I’m sure I will be reaching for my phone and having mini panic attacks when it’s not in its usual place. I will fidget and annoy my husband because I don’t have solitaire or the Internet to entertain me. I will worry I’m missing the big story that I need to get my reporters on stat.
But then, I’ll take a breath and remember there was once life before cellphones and we all survived. I will grab my pups, go for a walk and finally enjoy the freedom of a technology-free weekend.
