Remember the game “Secret Whispers” or “Gossip” that we played as children?  We sat in a circle and whispered something into the ear of the person sitting beside us, and she/he repeated the process with the next seated friend, and so on.   When the process ended, the last person told us what the original message was, and it was always so crazily different from the original that we giggled ourselves silly.

Here’s how it works now in the downsized communication world:

1. I had a routine medical appointment at 1:15 PM on Wednesday with my regular internist at her office which is in the Medical Office wing of Saint Francis Hospital in Midlothian.

2. The appointment was quick, and I was out of the office by 1:40 PM.  While walking down the hall to leave the building, I saw the physician father of one of my son’s BFFs.  I had not seen the dad for a number of years, and we had a lovely catch up conversation. Then I met my husband in the parking lot, and we had a quick bite to eat at Padow’s Deli.

3. I got home about 2:40 PM, and there was a voice mail message from our son on the phone which came at 2:31 PM.  He rarely calls us, and certainly if he calls at all, he does not call in the middle of the day.  I worried when I saw his caller ID.

4: His message: “Why is Mom in the hospital?”

I giggled like a school girl.  The BFF’s dad either talked to or texted her that he had seen me in the hospital.  She texted our son, and he worried about me.

No news travels fast in today’s world!