I always seem to get nervous before calling anyone, but today I felt particularly nervous, the way I felt when I had snuck into the city at night and I was walking through a bad neighborhood and wondering if I would be stabbed to death. I kept picking up the phone then putting it off-- changing my underwear, cooking dinner, playing a song on guitar-- anything to keep from calling. Perhaps by the time I called it would be too late for your 7 year old brother and I could hang up anxiously (as I have done to several other male friends' tired mothers) and then call someone else, tying up my caller ID blocked line. I'm sorry you weren't home. I never know what to say on machines.