The "Ahw" Factor

I can still hear my mother's voice saying it. "Ahw" pronounced A-audible exhale of breath-w. I think it's a noun, adjective and verb all in one. She said it many times as she sat in a kitchen chair next to the the rotary-dial, wall phone of our families' home of 43 years. She could have been on the phone with any of my aunts, or my grandmother, or her bestfriend Margie. It meant she was receiving a piece of news difficult for the human mind to accept as reality.

It was used when receiving good new, bad news, family-related stuff, non-family related stuff, you name it. And the important thing to remember here is that the whole conversation was audible.......voice inflections, whispers, emotions happy or upset, spoken quickly or with slow build ups to the big climax of the story. I can almost guarantee there were lots of details, cause I don't tell anything without going into great detail; I believe that's a genetic quality. My husband would agree as he always puts in an immediate request for the 'Reader's Digest version' when I start a story.

I'm afraid the "Ahw Factor" of conversation is becoming a thing of the past. Oh, I still talk by voice phone with my cousin Ruth Ann and a couple of my aunts, but otherwise communication is done by emails, texts, and Facebook. Facebook has to be the big one for me. It is my main source for receiving and sharing important information with family, friends of past and present, and church family. I love it, too. I've been in touch with people I haven't heard from in years and I truly enjoy reading what everyone is up to, seeing pictures of their families, what their interests are and what books they're reading. You can really get to know a person by checking out their flair.

But, alas, it lacks the "Ahw" in communication. You post something and then you just wait to see who reads it and who has a comment back, or who is willing to join it, or at the very least "likes" it. And you have to hope the people you wanted most to see it don't scroll past it on accident, cause there is just all kinds of info coming in daily afterall. You don't get that original setting of the other person sitting in the kitchen chair next to the wall phone doing nothing except listening to you.

We all want to be heard. Maybe that's what "Ahw" is. The affirmation that you were heard and someone cared and shares your feelings on it. The kindest of words...."Ahw" If you're one of my Facebook friends, I hope you'll occasionally reply to one of my posts with "Ahw". It would make my face smile and my spirits soar.

"Kind words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24