Katerina Blogs: Kids

I am the only child of a Greek family which means that talking on the phone (or in our case on Skype) is a daily routine. Analyzing my daily diet, my life decisions and the weather are the parent’s favorite topics!

I can’t say that my parents are especially obsessed with being in touch with me 24/7. Afterall, they are used to me living abroad by now and well, I am an adult! But even this once a day communication can be overwhelming to many. As I said, we call each other every day. Usually for a couple of minutes but surely long enough to cover all the aforementioned hot topics. When for some reason we cannot speak on the phone, I text them a simple confirmation that I am still alive.

But imagine, you are out, you forgot to call on skype or text your daily “I am alive” declaration and you get that call : “Are you ok? I was worried!”. Bummer, right? After a while though, it becomes a habit. If a certain time passes and I haven’t talked with my parents, I call them myself. I even catch myself needing to call them! (Please don’t judge me; there’s worse!).

The weirdness however, occurs when this happens in reverse. Friday night, before I go out and my parents haven’t called by their usual time. So, I call them. No answer, so I leave my “I am alive-going for beers-talk to you tomorrow” message at their voicemail.  But then I think, “this is so unlike them”! So I started making all these disastrous “what if” assumptions.

And here comes the low point! I call my cousin who lives nearby being all “hey-how are you-this is a normal, casual conversation”, trying to see if any of my ultra realistic “what if” scenarios had come to life. Apparently not. Nevertheless, I go out and I have to admit, I thought of my parents once or twice!(Again, don’t judge!).

The next day, I get a belated skype message from the night before saying “Hey! We are going out with some friends, don’t have time for a call. Talk to you tomorrow”. I must say, I was relieved because apparently a “what if they have a social life” scenario had not occurred to me.

So there I was: The awkward moment when you realize that you have been freaking out over where your middle-aged parents are on a Friday night and also when you sort of get the hint of how they must feel when’s the other way around.

Either way, full exposure: I am a freak! And I am aware of it! This is the first step to healing.

Katerina Petropoulou (26) studies Business Communication and Digital Media at Tilburg University and blogs for Univers.