I was one of those people who didn’t need a cell phone…would never HAVE a cell phone…couldn’t be bothered with having that anchor tethered to me! I couldn’t understand what everyone was all excited about.
Then I got my first cell phone. I was dating someone who also had a cell phone and wanted to be able to have a private conversation, wherever I was. I dropped it, I forgot it, I lost it a few times. Once it was gone for 2 days. I finally decided to ‘call it’. And no, I didn’t say ‘Here phoney phoney!’
I called it from my home phone. Then I had to turn everything off, tell everyone to hush and run around quietly listening for my ring. Of course each search only lasted 30 seconds before voicemail picked up. I’m sure that feature had a grand time laughing at me.
It was after the 7th frantic swoop around the house, that I realized the worst possible scenario. It must be on vibrate. I would have to wait until dark and hope that I could see the light from it. Once again, turn off all the lights & anything that made noise, including the kids. Nothing. Nothing upstairs, nothing downstairs. I decided to check the van, once again. What harm could it do? I asked one of the kids to call the rogue cell phone once I was outside. As I was approaching the van, I saw a faint glow in the driveway. There was a section of snow that was lit up. Could it be? I scooped up the snow and there it was. Alone, cold & shivering. Two days in the dark (well, not always in the dark) but cold & covered in snow…no wonder I couldn’t see it.
Well there, I’d managed to kill my first cell phone. Nothing worked on it. Just that one courageous last burst of light to show me the way…then it was gone. I felt bad. I had been irresponsible and now someone had suffered for it. Wait a second, it’s just a phone…..isn’t it?
After a day of ‘drying out’ after it’s wild adventure, the phone had come back to life. I was shocked. But I promised that I would take better care of it…from that day forward. I took it with me everywhere. It slept on the nightstand next to my bed. And if I left to go somewhere without it, I turned around and went back as soon as I realized. It was my new best friend.
I am now on my second cell phone. This one has also been through hell and back with me. But it’s worked when I needed it. But it’s old. I see everyone else with their iphone and blackberry, taking pictures & uploading them to the internet with one button, chatting with friends & making fancy plans…mapping out their important lives. I WANT AN IPHONE! ~pant, pant~
No, no…I don’t need an iphone. That’s too much. I don’t need all those fancy features. But I would like something new. Something that allows me to call anyone I want, whenever I want. That’s my most important thing. I was tired of having a good conversation with someone only to see a $40 charge for that call added to my bill. I needed something bigger…I needed Unlimited Canada-wide Long Distance.
So I went to town, shopped for phones…looking at everything available, I decided on an HTC android with Koodo as my carrier. It provided me with a $50 Walmart gift card to buy some new sneakers. I was happy. Then when I got home, certain features didn’t work. I could only get signal in certain parts of the house. I took it back.
My daughter suggested I go with her carrier, Fido. So I looked online to see what phones they had. The only one that really caught my eye was the LG Optimus. I anxiously awaited it’s arrival in the mail. Finally it arrived. I was blown away. Big gorgeous touch-screen. It took beautiful pictures, I entered everyone into my contact list from my old phone. And gave everyone their own personal ring-tone. I was able to download extremely cool ringtones off of a website for the Android phones. Songs, quotes, particular voices to suit everyone’s personality…I even found one that says, ‘This is your work calling, you probably don’t want to answer’.
I transferred all my numbers & info to my new phone. And by day two when I knew for sure I was keeping the new one, I deleted everything of mine from the old phone and handed it over to my sons. They were going to take care of it now. Together.
I was thrilled! It had excellent sound quality and I got service in every inch of our house, even outside. Then on the second day….the touch screen stopped working and my fantasy was over. My perfect phone was sitting by the door in a bag waiting for the guy in the big brown truck to take it away. I was sure the phone felt like an adopted child that was being sent away for bad behaviour. I tried not to think about it.
Now it has been seven days since I last saw my phone. I know it won’t be coming back. It will be a new phone. And I do so want this one to be just as perfect. Because now I know I am hooked. And I fully understand what all the excitement is about.
