Housekeeping

Once upon a time, I had a friend named Chad. Chad was a very nice boy, but a little overbearing at times. I felt a little weird talking to Chad all the time because he'd say some slightly-inappropriate things to me whilst he had a girlfriend. I didn't know what to do.
Then Chad moved closer to me and didn't have a girlfriend. I liked him a bit, but he freaked me out a bit because he'd call so much. So sometimes I'd not call him back. And sometimes turned into all the time for a while, without any good reason.
One day, I decided to get over myself and I called him. When he answered the phone, he didn't say, "Rachel!" He said, "Who's this?" He'd taken my number out of his phone.
You know what, though? I didn't feel bad. I deserved it. And I found my way back into his life and his phone, and it was fine.
I also take people's numbers out of my phone periodically. Sometimes it's because the number is no longer correct (like my friend Eric). Or sometimes it's because it's for someone I didn't know that well, and we've fallen out of contact (like a guy named Stephen who asked me out once, but then I couldn't go, and then he moved, and then I moved...). But sometimes you take a number out for your own protection. Not the numbers that you keep for the caller ID purposes so you know NOT to answer the phone. But sometimes you have to take numbers out to save yourself.
Last night I took a number out of my phone. I just don't want to be tempted to call this person. I wanted to cut him off before he cut me off. That's pride, but that's ok. And then, at the end of the day, you really know who wants to talk to you. My friend David made it back into my phone because he started calling me. Andrew never did. The jury's still out of the recent removal, but I'm not sad. I feel free.