Little Sister had joined the cheerleading squad, so I was waiting for practice to end and Mom would pick us up.

I texted Mom: I'm bored. Can you come pick me up?

I got a message back with a simple: No.

After a while, I was still waiting outside the gym and I hadn't seen Little Sister during any three of the water breaks.

I texted Mom: Is she even in cheer practice or did she take the bus home?

I got Mom's usually level of snarky in a text message saying: Yeah, she's right beside me. I've just been pretending she's at school.

I responded: I'd believe that you'd make me wait outside the sweaty, smelly gym on the cold, hard floor for two hours for your own amusement.

The final message before being told to stop bugging her with my texts was: If I had the 'give your head a shake' emoji, you'd be getting it right now.