A lot of people do that now. Not because we are so rude or uncaring, but more of a defensive measure. Telemarketers people who do not know us, nor care about us anymore than we know or care about them. Yet they would call us by the hour, trying to sell us something we do not need nor want. But that is not what makes me hate answering machines this day.
Today is different and yet, in a way, it is no different from any other day.
Only that a lady I knew from church, always kindly and smiling, has passed away this day. Not unexpectedly, or at the hands of tragedy. She lived well into her nineties, a good full life, with her children and her grandchildren, and even a sweet great-grandbaby near her. It was the way I learned of this that distresses me more than anything. I came into the kitchen, with the small counter where we keep the buffer between ourselves and the rest of the world.