Sib of the Week

Laurie is one of my imaginary friends.

My imaginary friends are those I know through my online community, but have not met in person. Once I meet someone in "real life," they are no longer imaginary.

Laurie has recently returned from doing field research in a far-off place. She's finishing a doctorate, and now that she's back in the U.S. I can hope to make her non-imaginary someday.

Anyway. Laurie's most recent blog posting concerns her decision to call her younger brothers more frequently. I used to be magnificent about calling my siblings, from the time I went away to college and used to time my calls home such that my youngest sister and brother might be home and awake.

For a while, I implemented the Sib of the Week system. Conveniently, my sisters and brother number four, so I could call one of them each weekend, and everybody would get one call a month. Sometimes, to avoid long games of phone tag around people's busy schedules, I would give them a heads-up: "Hey, you're Sib of the Week this week! When should I call you?"

But over time, the Sib of the Week system disintegrated. Now I can go for many days without my non-work phone ringing. So here's the question: should the Sib of the Week system go back into action? And how could responsibility for initiative be shared?