When is a Phone, NOT a Phone?

This past week, I bought a new phone. A MUCH bigger phone! Its like a phone that is trying to morph into a tablet. I think the proper term is “Phablet”. Its so big it covers the entire side of you head when you are talking. I think you can actually land a small plane on the screen.

I am not sure if its my advancing age, multiple eye surgeries, the need to always stay connected, not being able to drive without GPS, but I was just having trouble seeing and doing all the things I needed to do on a phone. I needed bigger, and in this case, with this phone, I can say with confidence, bigger is better. This thing is the Donald Trump of phones!

I didn’t just up and buy this phone on a whim. For weeks I researched the best phones with the best features and the best technology at the absolute best price. I poured over the data and agonized about the decision. I spent more more time buying a phone than I did buying my car or many people do buying a house! A colleague of mine said to me, “Its just a phone! “Just a phone? Really? Is that all it is? Just a phone?

I am old enough to remember when a phone was a thing that hung on the wall. You had one (two if you were blessed) to share among the entire household. I think we had two, shared by 6 people. I remember when we got one of those long cords that you could pull down the hall and into your room so you could shut the door and talk in private. I can still hear my Dad telling us to get off the phone because he was expecting an important call. Some of my friends even had a “party line.” Its not what you think! A Party Line was where you and someone else in the neighborhood shared the same phone line! Can you imagine?? But what I just purchased, this phone,is so much more!

I spent the entire week setting up my new phone. I mean the whole week. I ate less, exercised less and slept less in order to personalize my phone. Transferring my data, my contacts, my texts, and all my apps. I downloaded the latest operating system. I purchased a new SD card to store all my music and documents. When I didn’t like the new operating system upgrade, I spent the next two days performing the downgrade. Then back to downloading all the apps again, moving them around on my home screen just to my liking, adding the perfect wallpaper and perfect ring-tones, making sure I had quick access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all the other functions that make my phone, “My Phone.”

There have been times when I left the house without my wallet and never knew until I had to pay for something. But my phone? The moment its out of my site, I know! I can go without money or credit cards or my drivers license, but my phone? Never!

I was so excited about my new phone, I suggested to my better half, maybe she should get one. She looked at my in utter horror! “But I like my phone.” “I have everything set up just how I want.” “If I bought a new phone, I would have to start all over!” I responded I would be happy to help her. After all, I am the new phone expert! But she was having none of that. Her phone was “Her Phone”, and the thought of no longer having “Her Phone”, if only for a few hours, was more than she was physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually able to grasp!

This entire process proved to me what I purchased is not really a phone. You see, what I bought is my essence. Its my being. Its the first thing I look at in the morning and the last thing I touch before I go to sleep at night. It cannot function without me, nor I without it. Its my very reason for living! I and my phone, are one, and nothing, will EVER come between us, as long as we both shall live! Amen and Amen!