GPS = Give Parents Stress

I’m the oldest child in my family, so I tend to bear the brunt of first-child anxiety that every parent experiences. When I was a teenager, my phone had GPS tracking so my parents could always know where I was. (We had the same feature on every phone, which was handy whenever we needed an estimate for how long it’d be before someone came home.)

When I went off to college, the tracker remained. It was mostly only used so my parents could reassure themselves that I was safe without infringing on my life with constant calls and texts. It was a good system, especially in the early days when my parents were dealing with the worst of the bittersweet “my baby isn’t a baby anymore” feelings.

One spring day, my parents checked in on the GPS app and saw that my location was pinged in a small apartment complex a significant distance off-campus. Cue immediate panic from my father, who was convinced that I’d been kidnapped. My mother made him calm down, and they sent a text and continued to check every ten minutes or so.

No reply. They continued to send texts. They tried calling, but no answer. This went on for almost an hour, and by the end of it, my dad was pacing and probably ten seconds away from calling the National Guard.

Finally, I picked up my phone, saw the texts and several missed calls, and excused myself to call back.

Me: “Hello?”

Parents: “WHERE ARE YOU?!”

I explained to them that I was at a friend’s apartment with my church group and we were eating pizza and playing video games. I’d had my phone turned off because that’s just good guest etiquette. My mother then filled me in on the drama, and I’ve teased them about it ever since.