<p>When my kids were all in school we used to get a recorded call from the school if our child missed school that day without being excused. The call came at the end of the day and said “your son or daughter missed school”. But they didn’t say WHICH son or daughter. It was always fun to try and track down which they meant since inevitably, nobody had missed school that day and the call was a mistake to begin with.</p>
<p>when I see the call is from daughter2 I know inevitably it involves putting money in her account…but twice in the last month she has managed to lose her cell pne, for which I want to choke her for…I think she is more like a son, as daughter1 calls for everything from recipe chat to bf problems…I cringe with one but not the other…see if you can guess which one is which</p>
<p>My D somehow clipped a parked car while she was parking next to it. Of course she was driving MY car. It was at a health club, she was on her way in to work out. Multiple calls to me (always to me, they never call Dad) as she tried to figure out what to do since she couldn’t locate the other driver. She kept expecting a call on her cell from the driver once whoever saw the scrape and the note she left on the car. Finally I get this one:</p>
<p>D: “MOM - that car is gone and they never called me.”
Me: “Well, was the note attached securely under the windshield wiper?”
D: “Yes.”
Me: “What kind of car was it?” (First time I had thought to ask that.)
D: “Umm…I think it was a Ferrari??”</p>
<p>Text from high school daughter: Mom do you know what’s going on? We’ve been huddled in the back of the classroom in lockdown for almost an hour. No one will tell us why.</p>
<p>Followed by phone call from school district emergency system: A prisoner has escaped from work detail and was last seen in the vicinity of the high school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yup, got that call too. Definitely shaved a good five years off of my life.</p>
<p>So what in the heck do you tell them when you get the call about the spun car and the oncoming traffic???</p>
<p>My advice was to pull onto the grassy median, rather than worry about moving the car before the police could arrive.</p>
<p>DH and I, along with two younger sons are eating at a restaurant on the East Coast. My cellphone rings and it is DS#1, who has just flown back to his midwestern university.
DS-Mom, I think I left my apartment keys on my dresser in my room at home.
Me-Get the superintendent to open your apartment and we’ll fedex the keys to you.
DS-The super’s on vacation.
Me-What do you want me to do from 1,000 miles away? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Speaking of sons…
This isn’t a phone call but is in the same vein. Recently, I was on a NYC subway train that was paused between stations in the long, dark tunnel. I looked out the window and saw my S’s graffiti tag on the wall. When I got home, I called my S to ask him about it and he laughed. Apparently, he’d done this years before in HS. Is he ever lucky he no longer lives at home. I would ground him for the rest of the year.</p>
<p>Phone call received while in London on a business trip.</p>
<p>DS: Uh, hi Dad. I’m in on the side of the road in Virginia driving back from the music festival. We just got stopped for speeding and they asked the driver whether we had illicit substances in the car. He was very nervous because he lost his license at the music festival but didn’t tell us. The idiot said “Maybe.” So, the cops are just finished talking to me and went through my suitcase and are talking to the driver and the other kid in the car."
Me: Do you need a lawyer? What did you tell them?
DS: The truth. I do not have illegal substances. I can’t say about the other guys. I don’t know of anything that they might have but we were just at a music festival so it is always possible that they have something.
Me: Do you need a lawyer?
DS: Let’s see what happens. I’ll call you in a few minutes.</p>
<p>DS calls back and says: Everything is fine for me. Not so good for the others. Driver (who is a bit of a discombobulated kid) has stuff in his bag and is charged. Other kid has a part of a bong with residue of marijuana in it. He gets charged. </p>
<p>Police officer talks again to my son: "Why didn’t you tell us the truth?
DS: I did. I didn’t have anything just like I told you. I didn’t have any evidence that they had anything but I knew that we were just at a music festival and so it was entirely possible that they had something. That was the truth.
Officer: OK. We won’t charge you.</p>
<p>Notes to son:<br>
Don’t drive with idiots who say “Maybe”. [DS has argued 4th Amendment cases in Moot Court and knew that idiot had just given probable cause].
Don’t drive with people who carry marijuana with them in their cars.
Watch: [YouTube</a> - Don’t Talk to Cops, Part 1](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik)
and
[YouTube</a> - Don’t Talk to Cops, Part 2](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fZQWjDVKE]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fZQWjDVKE)
and
[YouTube</a> - BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMjMPlXzdA&NR=1]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMjMPlXzdA&NR=1)</p>
<p>And make sure your friends watch.</p>
<p>I guess the real title of this thread should be: “Things that sounded terrible at the time but, in retrospect, weren’t – thank goodness.”</p>
<p><em>Hysterical sobs</em> “MOM!” <em>More hysterical sobs</em></p>
<p>I got that call, too, on November 10, 2006 - a day I will NEVER forget! DD’s car had been hit by another car, went careening across the median, spun several times and ended up in oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the interstate. The same car that originally hit her then hit a semi truck, came across the median and hit her AGAIN in opposing interstate lanes at which point both cars burst into flames! Thank goodness it was actually her that called me - at least I knew immediately she was still alive! Her car and everything in it burned to a crisp, but she was unharmed! Traffic was backed up for hours and, 3 1/2 years later, the interstate still bears the scars of that horrible evening.</p>
<p>How horrid and how miraculous that she was unharmed. A colleague asked me how I maintained my composure when I got the call. I replied just as you did: the mere fact that my son was on the other end of the phone line meant that the worst had not occurred.</p>
<p>Gosh, I hope I never get one of those calls.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Or more like things that were indeed terrible but they survived to call us and tell us about it. After the fact.</p>
<p>Call early Sunday morning, from stranger: “Mrs. HImom, HIson cut his hand with a hatchet & we’re taking him to the nearest hospital.”</p>
<p>Me: “Which hospital, please?” </p>
<p>Stranger: “The nearest Kaiser.”</p>
<p>Jumped into the car with young HIdaughter. We waited endlessly (literally hours) at the ER of the only Kaiser open on Sunday & didn’t see HIson at all. Finally called HIdad who said that they got a call back from camp that HIson was stitched up & back at camp!</p>
<p>DD was a t summer program a couple years ago and called me repeatly in tears. When she took off for college this year, I asked her to please “call daddy” if she was crying. Oh, yeah, that worked.</p>
<p>SON: Mom, I’m now where I’m supposed to be (on East Coast) but am locked out of my new apartment & am not getting an answer at the number I’m supposed to call.</p>
<p>Me (5000 miles away): Is there any other number you can call? Can you call security? Are any of the people in the apartment building you’re going to live in friendly?</p>
<p>SON: It’s a Sunday & most things are closed today, mom. Whoops, battery of phone is dying & don’t know where my charger is. I’ll work it out & get back to you–sometime. Click.</p>
<hr>
<p>Son: What do you do when you phone and wallet are stolen with credit cards, ID & everything else?</p>
<p>Daughter{in person, at airport just before getting out of car): Um, I left my purse, ID, key to apartment & wallet back at the house where we were staying.</p>
<p>Son (2500 miles away): How do I know if I have shingles? What is this itchy rash?</p>
<p>Son (2500 miles away, on a weekend, of course): What do I do when I have something in my eye? It really hurts.</p>
<hr>
<p>Son: Mom, what’s our auto insurance policy number?</p>
<p>Me: Son, why are their sirens in the background?</p>
<p>Son: Everything’s under control; just had a collision, with a motorcycle.</p>
<p>Me: <sigh></sigh></p>
<p>Not a call from my kids or about them, about HIdad–</p>
<p>Call from police department: Hi! This is the HPD. We just wanted to tell you we recovered your stolen car.
Me [shocked & VERY scared]: What? What stolen car?
HPD: The Volvo registered to you at this phone number.
Me [after I can breathe again]: What makes you think the car was stolen?
HPD: The headlights are on and it’s at the largest shopping center in the parking lot.
Me: Are there signs of foul play? Struggle?
HPD: No, but stolen cars are left here with their lights on all the time. Who was driving the car and where is s/he?
Me [realizing I don’t know the name of HIdad’s friend or where they were planning to meet]: Can I get back to you?</p>
<p>[Found it weird then & now that they ASSUME that any car with lights left on in the shopping center is a stolen car recovered rather than an absent-minded driver. Especially found it weird because the car at issue was a 1983 Volvo–>15 years old and had no signs of damage other than age.]</p>
<hr>
<p>Again, not about kids, but was a scary call to me:</p>
<p>Neighbor: The fire department is at your house, breaking in.
Me: Oh no! What’s wrong?
Neighbor: I’ll get back to you.
–pause–
Neighbor: OK, don’t worry, they’re leaving laughing, must not be a big deal.</p>
<p>[I had left an egg boiling on the store & forgot to turn off the burner–big mistake but NO lasting damage, even to the pot egg was being boiled in, except one pane of glass got chipped when I was trying to put it back in.]</p>
<hr>
<p>D calling long distance from overseas: Mom & dad, S is missing! We don’t know where he is and it’s getting late. I & cousin are worried. Oh well, gotta go.</p>
<p>D calling back hours later: Mom & dad, S is OK; the idiot was out with friends without telling us first! ARGH! He’s going to get it!</p>
<p>Daughter when in high school: “Hi Mom, I’m calling you from the football field. We’ve all been evacuated here because of a bomb scare. I just thought you’d want to know.”</p>
<p>In fact, I’ve had a number of calls from my kids saying, “We’re in a lockdown, don’t know why. Just thought you’d want to know.” </p>
<p>Someone mentioned training a school advisor to preface his calls. The office manager at my kids’ elementary school called me often about school business and always had the good sense to start every message with, “the kids are fine” before she said what she wanted to say. She told me she knew parents tensed up when they heard a message from the school. Compare that to one friend whose preschool director left a message saying her child had “had an accident.” She called in near hysteria to find out he’d wet his pants.</p>