R U Okay?

A few evenings ago, my father and I attended a holiday party together. I picked him up and brought him back home. He and I live very close to each other. It was perhaps 12:30 when I put the key in my door. I immediately jumped in the shower to get ready for bed. Twenty minutes later, I put my pajamas on and checked my phone one last time before going to sleep. Dad had sent me a text: R U Okay?

I wondered why he did this. There is a fire station nearby, and I thought that maybe he had heard the sirens and worried. It's just how our minds work in this family, and we don't question it too much. I called Dad, and he said that all he wanted was to be sure that I made it inside my home safely. Yes, Dad, I made it in fine. Sheesh, I thought, what are the possibilities of what could happen to me in the five minutes that had passed from his doorstep to mine when he had sent the text? (All right, so I admit that where I live has had its share of frightening crimes.) Had this scenario taken place ten or fifteen years ago, I would have rolled my eyes and fussed that I am not an incapacitated child. However, it didn't bother me one bit that Dad was checking up on his daughter, because the alternative to our relationship could have been far worse than my feeling babied. It's all a matter of perspective.

(N.B. What's cute about this anecdote is the fact that Dad is into texts. As for Mom, we are doing well just by fiiiinally convincing her to get a cell phone some months ago. What's next for them, DVR?)