I am terrible at returning texts.

I’m the guy who will have a conversation with you through text and suddenly ghost your last response.

This is not intentional. But that doesn’t make it ok.

It happens because I have the habit of checking my phone whenever there is a notification. Though I rarely receive a message that can’t wait 10 minutes until I’m free, I check anyway — just in case.

I check when I’m in the middle of working on a task at my desk, stopped at a red light, or while in the kitchen cooking.

I see your message. I open it to make sure it isn’t something that needs an immediate response. When I see that it doesn’t, I make a mental note to text back as soon as I’m free.

That mental note immediately fades like the vapour from an exhalation in the cold.

Hours — sometimes days, even weeks — later, I’ll stumble on the message again with a wave of shame.

I’m not making excuses. Only explaining reasons.

So if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of my poor responsiveness — I apologize.

I’m working on it.