Great Lengths to Communicate

Sam and I met over 8 years ago, just a couple weeks before school was out for the summer.  Sam and I enjoyed each other's company and we exchanged contact information.  I moved down to Arizona for the summer to work and lost Sam's info during the move.  Sam was the first guy I ever gave my number to and I really didn't think that he would call or write me that summer.

Boy was I wrong!  Not only did he call me (atleast once a week,) Sam also wrote emails and letters to me.  I was surprised that Sam liked me enough to want to keep in touch with me.  I am naturally a chatty girl and just talked with Sam like an old friend.  Since I worked in a remote area, I didn't get any cell phone reception.  (It wouldn't have mattered anyway since I didn't have a cell phone.)  Sam had to call my work's pay phone to reach me.  Sam would always be the one to call me so that I wouldn't have to pay for the calls.  I never was around when the pay phone rang, so one of my coworkers would have to track me down when Sam called.  Sometimes Sam would have to wait five minutes until I'd get to the phone.  Our phone conversations would usually last a couple hours.  I don't really remember what we talked about.  I do remember there were times where they'd be locking up the lodge where I worked and they'd have to kick me off the phone and tell me to go to bed.  I'd then wander back to the girls' dorm and have to pound on the door so the girls would let me in.  To this day, Sam WILL NOT tell me how much his cell phone bills were that summer.  He just tells me that it was really expensive. 

In addition to the phone calls, we'd write each other emails.  Sam had it easier than me though since he could email me from home.  (At my work, there wasn't a computer with internet access for employees.  I did sneak on to the computer a couple times though to send a quick email to Sam.  Yup, I was naughty and broke the rules.)  In order for me to send Sam an email, I had to hitch a 30 minute ride with a coworker to the library.  (The girl who worked in the lodge's office would print off the emails for all the employees, fold them in half, staple them, and write the employee's name on it in permanent marker,  She'd put all the emails in a basket that sat on top of the piano in the break room.) 

Since I couldn't get to a computer very often, I'd write Sam handwritten letters.  I'd try to make my letters interesting by using fun and unusual paper.  Sam would write letters back to me.  They were fun letters full of stories and inside jokes.  We drew each other pictures or write silly little poems.

Sam and I got to know each other quite well over that summer.  We went to great lengths in order to communicate.  What's fun is that Sam and I both kept all the emails and letters we wrote each other and I've made a scrapbook of them.  It's fun for us to look at.  We've even added letters and cards we've written to each other since we've been married.

Looking back, I'm glad that we didn't just communicate on the phone.  It's fun to have a record of our conversations.  We had fun getting to know each other through writing.