#178 When you hear someone’s smile over the phone

Neil Pasricha

Living in a big city can be lonely.

Friends scatter and splatter in all directions and people dear to your heart fling themselves across state lines, borders, and deep dark oceans.

And while calling your friends has gotten a lot cheaper, let’s be honest: It’s still hard to line everything up perfectly for a long phone call. There are time zones, there are answering machines, and there’s the general difficulty of jumping into someone’s life for an hour when they’re in the middle of living it.

Despite these issues, once in a while you land one of those special one or two hour phone calls with a close friend far, far away. If you’re lucky, after the first twenty minutes of what’s new at work, with the kids, with the folks, and with people both of us know but one of us knows better, it might fall into that healthy back and forth banter where it seems like no time has passed.

That’s the best part of the phone call.

Joking like you’re back in the dining hall at college before a long Friday night, chatting like you’re sharing a bunk-bed and whispering on Christmas Eve, and laughing like you’re still young and still married.

Sometimes if you listen close enough you can hear those smiles shining through the phone like laser beams. And they tug on your heart as your brain lapses and enjoys some great times with a loving friend.

AWESOME!

Thank you for making The Book of Awesome a bestseller for 17 straight months!

Photos from: here and here

37 thoughts to “#178 When you hear someone’s smile over the phone”

  1. I love this! It’s SO great to hear a friend’s happy greeting, knowing that they are as excited to talk to you as you are to them. :D

    CONGRATULATIONS about The Book of Awesome! That’s amazing!

  4. There’s just something about talking on the phone with someone that cheers up the grumpiest of people. Awesome :)

  5. Ah, this one really got to me. I am the far flung friend attempting to keep up with people half a country away. It’s really, really hard sometimes, particularly when it seems like nothing is going right, (as it has been for me lately). It’s SO nice to hear from a friend then. I just wish it could happen more frequently, but I guess its rarity is a part of the awesome, right?

  6. I love hearing someone smile or laugh over the phone. If I can make someone happy over the phone and not have to be there right beside them, its a good day. Smiling while talking on the phone was actually part of my training here at work. “Customers can hear you smile, so make sure you’re always smiling when you answer the phone.” And I do.

  7. Times like this,
    Hearts twist eyes mist,
    Reminisce, true bliss,
    With your soul-bro or sis~
    True happiness and tenderness,
    Sealed with a kiss,
    Smile…miss…feel their smile,
    and cherish.

  9. This is a special kind of awesome…I have recently moved far away from everyone I know and love. When I get chance talk to them, like really talk to them and catch up it really is something special. And, to know their voices and reactions so well that I can hear that smile makes me realise that distance and time can put nothing between people who truly care about one another.

    1. I did the same thing over four years ago, and I can’t agree more….even now when I make those phone calls, the distance melts away. And oh how I need those calls!!!

  10. That one call is the most awaited one cause you know, you are no matter what’s happening in your life, is going to lighten you all up. We all need that one loving friend in our lives, and hearing them smile on the phone or even via texts, it gives you one of the most endeared feelings.

    Lovely post.

  11. Making people happy is one of the best things a man can enjoy ..
    thanks for sharing ..
    I really love your blog! Kudos!

  12. Pingback: Friends « Thoughts from the Pot…

  14. We have a supplier who I have never met but speak on the phone with regularly. After the usual hello one day he asks me ‘Now how do I know you are smiling?’ It made me laugh since of course I was. Bantering with a total stranger can be just as awesome as talking with a friend. A moment of connecting across the wires :)

  15. My Granddad always used to say “You’re looking well” when he was talking to someone on the phone. It never failed to make me laugh.

  17. My best friend/cousin and I haven’t lived near each other or even in the same time zone for almost 10 years but we call each other just about every night and pick up where our conversation the night before ended. It can last for 2 minutes or 2 hours and most of the time is spent laughing. We see each other maybe once or twice a year but I can always tell when she is smiling or can hear the look she is giving me without ever needing to see it. Most of the time it’s the best smile of my day.

  18. I love this blog post. It reflects my past again, as i was in my college days. Really at one point of time all the friends, all the best friends scattered all over the globe and you even just can’t heard of them for a long-long time. All are busy in their living and when you heard their voice then it’s really amazing. Awesome!! thinking..

  19. I was telling my sister about this post. We laughed as we made “the smile sound”, which is your teeth making contact with gums/spit your cheeks move in a different direction. Yep, that makes the sound of a smile

  20. It amazes my heart when I can hear someone smile! Such a genuine, deep rooted smile that comes bursting out of their voice! niiiice!

    {{HUGS}}
    @spreadingJOY

  21. so understandable and so true… and then if I stop for a moment and think about a smile… I can only recognize how powerful it is and how good you feel after a smile! I love this post ;-)

  23. Recently i had a call from my college-mate, after 2 yrs. She is a very good friend of mine but due to higher studies & job she left New York, and so there is no contact with her anymore. But after a long time she send me a Facebook friend request and called me on my cell. It’s really an emotional moment for me. I was shocked but then talked her about an hour. I just remember the past and she smiled on me for the past experiences. A joyful moment of my life.

  25. BIG heart smiles! luv it and want the book! : ) Thanks to my niece, Kayleigh, I found you. Happy smiling everyone!

  26. Pingback: When you hear someone’s smile over the phone | The Hub: Adventures in Consciousness
  28. Pingback: 1000 Awesome Things.......... | infoplanetarium.com

  30. Useful info. Lucky me I discovered your web site by accident, and I’m shocked why this twist of fate did not took place earlier! I bookmarked it.

  35. Indeed a great article. When you are talking over the phone with a close person you can feel the laugh, the smile, cuz you know them so well

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