When I was a kid I had stationary decorated with a drawing of a girl chatting on the phone. I always found it odd that they would decorate one form of communication with a picture of another, but whatever. So long as I wasn't actually talking on the phone it was all good.

I'm still not a fan of phonecalls. Often I don't have anything to say and I find it incredibly awkward. A few years ago my sister told my about a friend who had come to her and asked for ideas of what to talk about during a phone coversation. The girl was making a list so that when she called the guy she liked she wouldn't run out of things to talk about. Asking my sister made a lot of sense, because my sister never runs out of things to say. A girl near by told the friend what she uses on her conversation topics list.

I stared at my sister, "People have lists?! All this time I've been coming up with topics on the fly and other people have lists?!"

It might not be as traumatic as calling up your crush on the phone, but none of the Jr. Highers in my life group came to youth group this week. Which means, I have to call all of them.

Last time I just wrote them all letters, because everyone loves to get mail, but it seems like that shouldn't be our only non-Sunday interaction. Some of them will be fine to chatter away about their lives without more than a "How are you doing?" from me, but I know at least one of them shares my terror of the phone conversation. A definate risk of awkward silence. So...I might have to make a list.