Texting

Before moving to China, I had been one of those people who had never texted - ever. Even when someone would text me, I would call them back. I had felt myself slipping farther and farther down the path of...well..."old." I mean, isn't that what getting older means...when technology begins to surpass your own skill sets? I had heard about national competitions on who could text the fastest? I got upset when some flowers were delivered to me from my dad and had a texted version of his salutations. What was the world coming to for goodness sakes? Texting had replaced shorthand...but, it didn't mean I had to like it. I couldn't even pronounce the word "texting." I sound like a bitter old fart, right? hahaha

Well, that was before I had entered the International community of Shanghai. Texting is not just a choice here...it's sometimes a necessity, if you want to actually communicate with another person from another part of the world. I crashed headlong into the realities and benefits of texting with the very first woman and mom I had met here in Shanghai...a woman originally from Argentina. She had spent some time in the States...and while she thought she had a good handle of the English language...well, I'm still not sure if she actually did or not. She spoke very fast and with a very heavy accent, not to mention her English was, shall we say, stilted...with pieces missing in her sentences and many areas in which I had to extrapolate her meaning. Face to face, I could at least read her lips and body language and have a pretty good handle on what she was trying to say. However, talking to her over the phone was very nearly impossible. That is when I discovered the beauty of texting!

Several months later, I have spoken with many different moms from many different countries and have pursued active friendships with several of them. However, I'm not sure that would have been as easy or even possible without the technology of texting. English is often the second or even third language for many of the women I have met. So, the variety of inflections of the English language in addition to their accents, often make it difficult to communicate via the phone. Hey! I'm just glad they speak English at all! I would really be screwed if they didn't work so hard to speak MY language!

I'm now a bonafide text-ed-er! Is that a word and if so, how in the world do you spell that?? And since I don't have all that fancy phone technology, ie, an iPhone, etc, I find myself developing speedy typing skills as well as the texting language shared by all texters...a.k.a, shorthand via phone. All my friends text. They, too, must have found it an easier way to communicate to each other. Thank goodness for this technology! hahaha

So, if u get a message from me via email & u c a short version, like this, I'm probably writing 2 u from my fone in the car. Actually...I'm texting u! ;-)