Smarter and Thinner!

This week Apple came out with yet another, thinner, smarter version of the iPhone.  Everything is thinner than me so I'm not even going to think about that and, sorry, I can't do a phone smarter than I am. I'm barely smart enough to use the phone I have.  In fact, the not-so-smart phone I have has lots of stuff in there that it's keeping to itself because its owner doesn't have a clue about it.

We are not that far removed from the curly cord that stretched across the kitchen so you could stir stuff on the stove while you were talking.  Oh, wait.  I still have one of those.  Nobody calls us on it except telemarketers and people who think we are stupid enough to wait for their recorded message.

It hasn't been too many years ago that I scoffed at people who carried their cell phones with them.  The sight of people holding what looked like a brick to their ears and talking while they walked seemed ridiculous to me, not to speak of pretentious.  Dennis had the first one in our household.  After all, he was a realtor and you know how they are, but when he insisted I get one, I balked.  Okay, he wouldn't let up, so I got one but hid it in my purse and tried to be invisible when I used it.  I wanted something like, maybe, a phone booth or something to stand in. The only time it rang was when Dennis called from his cell phone to see if it was working.

That was then and this is now.  Last night I came back from running (no, not that running, I drove) up to Braum's and saw that my cell phone was here on the table instead of in my pocket. A cold chill went up my back. How could I have gone out without my phone? What if I had had a wreck? Or a flat tire? Or forgot what I was supposed to be getting at Braum's? (French onion dip this time, but it's been known to happen.)

And more importantly, what if Dennis had fallen and tried to call me and then he heard my phone ringing near him as he lay there and he reached up to the table but his fingers just....couldn't....quite....grasp it?  Or remembered that he wanted me to get chips with the dip?

If I had to categorize the kinds of calls made on our cell phones, I'm thinking seventy percent of them are of the "I'm sitting outside.  Are you ready yet?" kind and the "Okay, I'm looking at them.  What kind of batteries am I supposed to get?" kind.  Another twenty percent keep me in touch with my out-of-town daughter-in law and my sisters who only have time to talk to me when they are driving down the road.  (Oh, stop! They have hands-free.  I think.) But about ten percent are "You left the garage door up again.  Do you want me to close it?" or "Grandma, I forgot my lunch.  Can you bring it up to me?" or "I'm stuck in this meeting, can you go let the dog out?"  The kind I am so glad I can get.  How did we handle those things before cell phones?

I saw that a lot of people were saved in Haiti during the earthquake because they were able to contact help by cell phone.  This is why I don't ever want to be without my phone these days.  What if a tornado comes and we are trapped in the bathroom by the entertainment center that has fallen across the door and rescuers don't know where we are?  Or if I am mountain climbing and break my leg falling on a ledge twenty-three thousand feet above a ravine?  Or if I am sky-diving and totally miss the location where they are supposed to pick me up and I'm stuck in a tree?  And lately on the news I've seen that a lot of bears are coming into people's yards! What?? It could happen!

You never know what's out there.  I'm keeping my cell phone charged and in my pocket.....at least when I haven't dropped it in the toilet or something and it's in a bag of rice drying out. I may not be as smart as my phone but I'm smart enough to have a bag of rice waiting in the pantry just in in case.  I'm ready for any possibility.