867-5309

301.5**-****. That’s the number to my in-laws’ house. It is one of the only numbers I still have memorized. It is the number that started this whole crazy circus in motion.

• I called it when I got sick of waiting for him to call me.
• I called it when I got home from college after him.
• I called it from college when I went back before him.
• I called it to hear, “I love you.”
• I called it to say it right back.
• I called it to talk guest lists and center pieces.
• I called it to fight.
• I called it to make right back up.

• We called it to arrange Sunday dinners.
• We called it to say, “we’re moving farther than around the corner”.
• We called it to say The Girl was on her way.
• We called it to say we were moving and maybe could we move in for a bit.
• We called it to say we lost a job.
• We called it to say The Middle One STILL WASN’T HERE YET!!!
• We called it to say we got another job.
• We called again to say we were moving and maybe could we move in for a bit.

• I answered it to hear mom was sick.
• I answered it to hear mom was gone.
• Sometimes I call it just to hear the only mom I have left.

• We called it to say we were moving. This time far away.
• We called it to say no, we weren’t.
• We called it to say actually, now we really are and maybe, do you think, could we move in for just a bit?
• I call it to ask what to do.
• I call it to complain.
• I call it to vent and laugh and be reassured and embraced and supported.
• I still call it to hear, “I love you”.

• I love every single voice that has ever answered that number.
• I love every moment of life at the other end.
• I will miss that number when it’s gone.

Goodbye Matthews Lane. You didn’t raise me, but you sure did help build me.