Guilt

I think all of us feel guilty about one thing or the other. I come from a Catholic family and no one does guilt like a Catholic Mom.  I really thought I had gotten over feeling guilty about stuff I wasn't responsible for until we got Caller ID. Caller ID produces more guilt in me than any other device I have ever owned. Every day the phone rings and there are more opportunities for guilt.


I am an upstanding citizen and have not been arrested since I was in college. ( That is another story for another day). But whenever my girlfriend Agent Mommy calls me from her work I have a moment of Panic. I mean if you looked at your caller ID and saw DEPT of JUSTICE. Wouldn't you freak out? There is always that moment when I have read the Caller ID and I think " What did I do?" then I talk myself down from the ledge by reminding myself that Agent Mommy works for DEPT of JUSTICE and it is probably her. No one could know about....


My husband is an Agent too. With a different department. When I see his department I feel joy. I get excited he will be leaving the office soon. But for some reason DEPT of JUSTICE freaks me out every time.

I also feel guilt when I see my mother in laws name or my own mothers name. The reason for this guilt is I am trying to decide if I REALLY need to answer the phone or if I could pretend we were out. My Mom  will call the house, my cell phone, then the house again if I don't answer. So I usually pick up. Less guilt that way. My mother in law is a different story. She is a widow. When I see her name on Caller ID it could be my husband actually calling from his moms house. I wouldn't want to miss him. But maybe not. Maybe my mother in law is calling to complain about my husbands Aunts. I really don't want to listen to that. But maybe she is calling to tell me she is ill and I need to take her to the doctor. I really need to answer it if she is sick.  All of this has to go through my brain and be processed before the second ring because my answering machine picks up on the third ring. I could set it to the 6th ring but what would be the fun in that?

I could get rid of caller ID save some money. But then I would be answering the unknown caller with out knowing it. I could be stuck listening to a sales pitch for 15 minutes when I could be on Facebook chatting with my friends. All in all I think that the guilt I feel for not answering the known callers outweighs the guilt I do not feel for ignoring the unknown callers. I mean really if you don't know who you are why would I want to talk to you?

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