Since the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, trillions of phone calls have been placed, and no one can go through an entire day without using a telephone. Me? I just wish I could get through an hour.

Not that I am complaining, but my phone does not stop ringing from the moment I get home from work to the moment I decide to try and get some sleep. On average, without exaggerating - I must get at least twenty phone calls a night. In fact, most of my nights are spent on the phone jumping from one call to another - keeping the phone to my ear for sometimes hours at a time.

The worst part of getting so many phone calls is having to choose who loses what I like to call, "The Call Waiting Game." The game begins when I am on the phone and my other line rings, and the object of the game is to decide which person to talk to. At least a dozen times a night - I feel like I am on a reality show and I have to choose who to give the boot to. Then, I have to make a list of the people I have to call back - adding additional phone time to the rest of my evening.

In no way am I unhappy that I have so many wonderful friends that enjoy talking to me, in no way do I feel popular because my phone rings off the hook - and in no way do I want my phone to never ring instead. Don't think that there are not nights when I am the one making the dozens of phone calls - and don't think that there aren't nights when I am the one that gets the dozens of phone calls. All I am saying is that I just think that spending ninety percent of my evening at home on the phone is sometimes great, sometimes relaxing - and sometimes annoying. But no matter what mood getting so many phone calls puts me in - it always reminds me that I am blessed with many good friends.

And to think, in the time it took me to write this column - the phone didn't ring once.