The Memory Of Those Calls Through A Landline
Communication has changed, but not the need to express our feelings. Today they materialize in (emot) icons of sadness, surprise or laughter, but they do not contain the timbre and harmony of those we want. Now they are automated and easy to process, they leave our messages light but capture our doubts.
I remember with that landline phone in hand, wired and connected to the wall, beige and with large keys. Trying to keep the door ajar, just enough space for the cable to pass through without being crushed, and trying to keep conversations flowing in the privacy that all intimacy requires.
Our hearts stopped when someone seemed to have picked up the phone from another room. Have they heard us? Did my father realize we were talking about yesterday’s party? Have they discovered that we did not go to our best friend’s house to sleep? How many wonderful doubts in that little meeting of excited, fearful, hurried and overwhelmed voices between whispers and gasps.
Phone conversations saved in our memory
In that talk we hung up the phone before time and called again so that there were no scares with the bill. There was a desire for adventure, laughter and silences that said everything. A certain mystery that was not always made explicit in words. The perfect missing link between face-to-face and emoticon conversation.
In those eternal conversations with my friends, secrets, scares and exciting plans were kept. The sound of the call made you jump out of bed because you just wanted to know what finally happened the night before, if you left before something interesting happened.
I miss those conversations, because the voices and their tones always linger in my memory knowing that they no longer exist and will not return. Where have all those words gone? Why can’t I remember all the hours and hours of those eternal conversations?
The magic of the voice that haste has taken from us
It is a fact that technology has changed our lives. It has brought with it enormous advantages, its use has lightened banking operations and has managed to locate us in a place when walking without having to carry a weak map to the whims of the wind. However, sometimes we discovered places by getting lost, hidden to which we would not have reached otherwise.
Maybe they took longer to get us to our destination, but they didn’t hijack our senses. They were true orientation exercises, challenges to urban upgrades that made us desperate and rewarded almost equally.
It is also true that technology has given us the possibility of shortening the distance with those who are far away. Programs, such as Skype, have made long-distance relationships curdle and lessen the tears of those who emigrate, in addition to being able to see the faces of those we long for. A global world needs a technology that allows it.
The longing for the unexpected
The phone in our dining room rang whether we were ready for it or not. The calls jumped at will and we talked for hours, even if the conversation started without much desire. Now everything is connected and I still like to be surprised. Being at home and letting the landline ring as an announcement of an unexpected conversationalist: listening to his voice, his tone and his breathing.
The transition from that landline with big buttons to instant messaging was too short with mobile calls. Missed calls that required answers, words, ears, and voices. To intuit, by the way of speaking, what the person on the other side needs, without the need for a drawing to stage it.
Now we even feel strange when the phone rings and they call us. It has been a too fast-paced and elusive time jump and sometimes that shows in our way of living, loving and longing.
Your voice harbors the sighs of memory, the longing for a better awakening and the longing for the present communication that accompanies life. Do not put it in parentheses or try to modulate it, allow other elements of your voice to reach where words cannot. Make it shy, sad, anxious or cheerful, but make it heard (why not?) On unexpected calls.
