I did it!

I did it! I answered the phone!

This may not seem like a big deal worthy of a blog, so let me backtrack...

I am coming out of the land of If-you-ignore-it-it's-not-there or better yet, the land of If-you-ignore-it-it-will-go-away. I used to laugh when my toddler son would cover his eyes so I couldn't see him, but that's just what I have been doing! I was the proverbial ostrich with my head in the sand. Do you know what? It doesn't go away. Sometimes it just stays there. Other times, it grows while you're not looking and when you finally do look, it's bigger and badder than ever! One of the most useful techniques in this land of denial that I was living in was to ignore the phone calls and messages. If I didn't recognize the phone number, I didn't answer it because I didn't want to deal with it.
So, today, I'm staying home with my sick daughter. I resolved to answer the phone if/when it rang. No matter what. So, the phone rang just a few minutes ago. Out of habit, I checked caller ID. It was an "800- number"- a sure sign that it's a bill collector calling. But, I found my finger hitting the TALK button and my voice saying, "Hello," before I could back down. And, as an added test/temptation, the caller did not respond immediately. I could have hung up, telling myself that there was something wrong with the connection, or if the caller really wanted to talk to me that they would be paying attention, or any number of other excuses that I've used to justify not talking to them. But I didn't! I said, "Hello," again. She responded this time. And do you know what? She was actually nice! There was no "meanie" on the other end of the line waiting to chastise me for not paying this bill. I told her that my plan is to pay off all of our current medical bills with our tax refund, but I took her name and information to call back in case I could pay it back sooner. The bill is only for $37- less than we've paid to eat out sometimes- so there's a real possibility that I could pay it back before our tax refund. I wasn't just blowing smoke, for a change. And, not only did I pick up the phone and talk to her about paying the bill back, but I'm actually going to pull out my budget for February and see if I can pay the bill sooner. Actually following through on something I told a bill collector... imagine that...