One missed call

I missed a call to my cell phone from my mom around 7:00 p.m. tonight. No message was left. I returned the call to her mobile and home numbers but didn't receive a response. No big deal, right?

Chances are it probably wasn't, and in this case it wasn't. Nevertheless, I've noticed that when I miss a call from my parents at a time when I wouldn't expect to receive one and don't get a message, part of me wonders if--and this is going to sound terrible--one of them has died or is being admitted to the hospital.

They're both at retirement age, so I suppose the news wouldn't be entirely unexpected. Still, neither of them are ill or in any state that would give me reason to jump to such a wild conclusion. It is purely my overactive imagination? worrisome nature? something else? I don't know that I grant such speculation any real seriousness, but it seems to me to be a bad impulse to have at all, especially because there's no evidence to merit it whatsoever.

As it turns out, tonight's call was an inquiry about getting audio and video from a computer to a television. I don't know why both of my calls went to voicemail--maybe they were on the line with another brother--but time was of the essence so my dad could watch a basketball game. Color me relieved and somewhat mortified where my mind meant. You can bet I didn't tell them what conclusion I leaped to.