I remember my first car phone. It was a hand-me-down from my dad for all the driving I did while living at home and attending nursing school. He always worried that I might have trouble along the road and preferred I keep it with me.
My kids would laugh out loud if they could see it now. It was about the size of a toaster, built into a vinyl/velcro case, and could only be used when plugged into your car cigarette lighter. But it was mobile, and it was the BOMB!After college, I paid for my first cellular phone plan with a smaller more compact phone...one that could actually be used without a car or lighter. I was 2o. (Alice and Emma...are you reading this? 20, and I paid the bill with my own paycheck.) Texting was not an option then.
I've upgraded maybe 3 times in those 17 years since. Even went several of those years without one. (Gasp!) And even though we currently have a cell phone (just one) it spends 90% of it's days "charging" on the kitchen counter. I rarely remember to carry it, and when we do take a trip and think it wise to bring it along...the battery's dead, so it's turned off and charging in the car while we drive. I think you see the pattern here. (If you're trying to reach us, your best bet would be call home and leave a message...we eventually come home to eat, and see the light flashing on the machine.)
Anyhow, our most recent cell phone was nearing the end, refusing to hold a charge anymore and just generally a pain, so I upgraded. Turns out our plan was so old, we had a lot of upgrading to do...but that's another scam of a story altogether. I ended up with a beauty of little gizmo...in red (my favorite color). It takes pictures, has a full keyboard for texting, has a calculator and tip figure-outer, alarm clocks and calendars. And get this, you can even make phone calls! My 10 year olds think it's pretty hip too. I'm slowly entering the world of text-messaging now, thanks to a teenage neice and her family who ONLY reply to texts. Seems they have no use for e-mail, or telephones, or even the flashing lights on the machine. Anyhow. I'm having fun with the whole texting thing...and sending out and recieving one liners for the silliest of reasons. I texted mom to tell her we saw a hummingbird on our feeder. (Then I called her about it, and told her again later that day at the ballgame.) So, it's not really a necessity by any means. It's fun, and completely inefficient for my intents and purposes. But, I'm slowly dipping my feet into the techno pond, and who knows, maybe someday (when it's free, or being given out in bubble gum machines) we'll even try our hand at web-browsing or twittering or whatever people do with phone/texter/calculator/tip-figure-outer/camera/web-surfing thing-a-ma-bobs. Baby steps Jamie...baby steps.
My first phone wouldn't fit in my glove compartment. This one gets lost in my pocket. I think I'd like lipstick to match. How cute?!
