My Family's New Addiction

For roughly 3 months after my mom passed away, the 5 of us engaged in an addiction, day and night. That addiction was each other. If we weren't physically hanging out at someone's house, we were communicating via BlackBerry in a group chat. Every morning as we got up, we reached for our phones and typed in "Morning all" or "Good morning" and as the rest of us got up we'd respond. Then would be the round robin questioning of what everyone's plans were for the day. Where would we be and when? Throughout the day we'd send messages updating our whereabouts ("just in line at the bank") and then we'd end the day with full-on chatting, whether it would be commentating on the Canucks game or anything else. This would also be the point in the day when Nadir would 'catch up' properly on the daily messages as he could only get snippets in between client appointments. There would be teasing and tears shared between Dad, Hasan, Jez, Nadir and myself and we just couldn't stop. Having my BlackBerry (BB) in my purse while I ventured into the world of people who either didn't know or just didn't get the magnitude of what had happened in our lives, was like having my family right there with me. People who DID get it. And I wanted to make sure they were always around.
It was like we were saying "You still here? Oh good. How about you? Whew, that's great."
And then, one by one, our BlackBerries started conking out on us!! Whether they couldn't handle the volume of our group chatting or whether they were saying "Get a life, people! ", we didn't know, but oh the frustration of missed messages!!
Slowly, the group chatting fizzled out although individual conversations still take place daily, and gatherings remain frequent.
I was reminded of this crazy addiction this morning. I was laying in bed, trying to rest up for this afternoon's big adventure. I'm going back to work after an entire summer of not working. So, I was in bed thinking, I should sleep, but instead ended up harassing my family on BB. At first I was getting the brush-off by these very busy, productive people! Where did they come from and what did they do with my family? One was off at an orthopedic surgeon appointment (creative excuse, that one), another off to a realtor (for what, I don't know, and why don't I know? I thought I was the nosy one who knew everyone's business!), a third was walking into his office building (I am assuming to work) and the fourth....ah, my brother...I can always count on him to respond. We have the same work ethic...less is more! Although when I suggested meeting up this afternoon on my break, he turned me down to...work! Orthopedic Jez and I managed a quick conversation about the sad extinction of Cookies by George at which point I realized I was hungry and signed off with the two of them. Which was ok by her because I'm sure she had a lot to do today.
What happened to my family?? I think, maybe, we're all starting to get a life.
Thanks for reading...