A glimpse into my future...

Gabe started school a week and a half ago, since that time he has been asking me for our telephone number so that he can share it with his friends.  Now, a little background:  We are currently living with Grandma and Papa and Gabe and Ian do not attend the neighborhood school.  We found the school we want our kids to go to and plan on buying a house in that area next spring or summer so in order to eliminate ANOTHER transition we put them in the school we want them to go to.  So, we don't really have our own land line, but we have cell phones.  More background, in my heart of hearts I don't want to give out numbers to friends because then I would have to get to know parents and then drive Gabe or his friends to and from after school play-dates. I've got to be honest here, the overlying theme of my hesitation is sheer laziness.  I'm a busy person and I can't be bothered with things like socialization now can I?

For the greater good I suppose, I gave in and told Gabe to give his friends my cell phone number.  That was yesterday.  Today, approximately 5 minutes after we got home from picking up from school, my cell phone rang.  I didn't recognize the number but said "hello", there was nothing on the other end but breathing.  I said "hello" again and more breathing.  Finally I said, "Are you a friend of Gabe?"  On the other end, a little voice said, "yeah can I talk to Gabe?"  I said, "Yes, can I tell him who's calling"...
"What?" he said..."Can I tell him who this is?" "It's Alex."  So, I gave the phone to Gabe and told him it was his friend Alex.  Gabe lit up, took my phone from me and as he walked into the other room for "privacy" he started in on his conversation with his friend.  I got tears in my eyes because maybe we are a bit late to the party, but this is the first time Gabe has had a phone conversation that warranted a little bit of privacy. 

Being the good parent that I am, I followed Gabe into the family room and listened to what was being said. Gabe had it on speaker phone so that he could hear better and basically they were talking about the book order that they got from school today.  It has a zombie journal for 8 dollars and apparently they both want to get one. Then a quick transition to this conversation:

Alex: Do you want to hear my chickens?
Gabe: What?
Alex: I have chickens, do you want to hear them?
Gabe: Yeah.
Alex: ...(walking outside)...it's really windy here, is it windy at your house?
Gabe: What?
Alex: Is it windy at your house?
Gabe:  No.
Alex:Here are the chickens... (chicken noises ensued)
Gabe:  Cool.
Alex:Ok, Bye.
Gabe:  (Hung up the phone, without saying bye)

I have concluded that
1. Like it or not, I am going to be forced into the 2nd grade social scene.  Boo.
2. We need to brush up on our phone etiquette at our house.
3. Gabe may need to get his hearing checked.

I dread the day that phone call is from an adolescent girl...