:-)

A short tale that needs to be told.

Tonight I was on the phone with my friend Alex. As we were busy chatting away, I was getting an incoming call from my dad. The only times that my dad calls me are to a). tell me that I owe him money, b). to tell me that I owe him money, c). to tell me that I owe him money, and d). all of the above.

I'm only 85% telling the truth, my dad also calls to wish me a happy birthday, to ask my advice on Mother's Day gifts for my mom, and to send other merriment's my way. Tonight, when I picked up the phone, my dad sounded kind of frantic. My first instinct was that something was wrong--I was worried that something serious had happened, when he said these words, "Lauren. Help me. I'm new to texting, I received a message that I don't understand, and I'm not sure how to respond back to my friend."

Being the savvy 21st century daughter that I am, I told him to lay it on me, perhaps I could help. Here is what my dad said. "At the end of the text there was a colon, a dash, and a right parenthesis. "WHAT DOES THIS MEAN!?!"

Let me see here, a : a - and a )

Me: Dad, turn the phone sideways, mmhm, yes. What do you see, does it look like a happy face?

Dad: Yes, I'm an idiot--don't tell anyone about this. (Do all of you guys count?)

Oh, and if anyone else needs a texting tutorial, I would be more than happy to help :-)