"It's impossible to keep the spark alive"..."You'll just drift apart" ..."A relationship across time zones is a surefire road map to singledom"...These and many more lines were spouted by wise friends and well wishers when the significant other and I decided to give the telecom industry a boost with our trans-continental saga.
As always, stupidity prevailed and we said "Yeah, right!" to all the naysayers.
With my obsessive need to prove that we were right, I instituted the hallowed tradition of the daily compulsory phone call. Sorry, I didn't care if he had to submit a 25 page report in the next 3 hours, he had to talk to me to ensure that 'All is well' with our world.
The significant other took significant offense to the fact that he had to give attendance every day. He'd moan, whine, throw tantrums, but make sure he called (Lord have mercy on him otherwise) everyday. I learned to live with the feeling that I was house-training my erstwhile free-as-a-bird guy. As the years rolled by, our respective stands on the matter became even more cemented.
And then out of the blue, one day he woke up and realized "I miss the daily call. Miss being nagged. Miss the attendance giving." So what does he do? Goes out of his way to track down a number, makes multiple calls to various call centers to figure out a way of reaching me. And then yaks away with me for 4 hours at 10 times the usual call rates.
Why the sudden volte-face you ask? Simple, because I was unavailable for once. Travelling on work, I was in a country where telecom rates were so high, that even I, the communication freak, did not dare volunteer for the daily international talkathon.
So, suddenly the daily grind became forbidden fruit. And voila, I was back in demand!
Hmm...wondering if switching off my phone for a week will make him fly across the seas, back home? Sure is worth a shot.
As always, stupidity prevailed and we said "Yeah, right!" to all the naysayers.
With my obsessive need to prove that we were right, I instituted the hallowed tradition of the daily compulsory phone call. Sorry, I didn't care if he had to submit a 25 page report in the next 3 hours, he had to talk to me to ensure that 'All is well' with our world.
The significant other took significant offense to the fact that he had to give attendance every day. He'd moan, whine, throw tantrums, but make sure he called (Lord have mercy on him otherwise) everyday. I learned to live with the feeling that I was house-training my erstwhile free-as-a-bird guy. As the years rolled by, our respective stands on the matter became even more cemented.And then out of the blue, one day he woke up and realized "I miss the daily call. Miss being nagged. Miss the attendance giving." So what does he do? Goes out of his way to track down a number, makes multiple calls to various call centers to figure out a way of reaching me. And then yaks away with me for 4 hours at 10 times the usual call rates.
Why the sudden volte-face you ask? Simple, because I was unavailable for once. Travelling on work, I was in a country where telecom rates were so high, that even I, the communication freak, did not dare volunteer for the daily international talkathon.
So, suddenly the daily grind became forbidden fruit. And voila, I was back in demand!
Hmm...wondering if switching off my phone for a week will make him fly across the seas, back home? Sure is worth a shot.
