Thursday, October 1, 2009

Now, finally, everybody has one.

It is entirely possible that I am the last person in the developed world to not own a cell phone. I’m sure this will come as a bit of a shock, but I’ve never really wanted one, either. I’ve never had the desire to be reachable at all times. And I’ve certainly been reluctant to squeeze the money out of the budget to pay for one.

The teenager, following in her strange mother’s footsteps, does not own a cell phone either. Despite being the last teenager she knows without a cell phone, she has never asked for one. In fact, the teenager has never been comfortable talking on the phone at all. She even actively avoids talking her friends on the land line phone in the house. “I just don’t like talking on the phone!” she emphatically states.

But the teenager is now in 9th grade. She has many activities that take her far away from home. Perhaps someday there will be an emergency. Perhaps every single person around her will have had their cell phones die because they talked on them too much that day. Perhaps then, a cell phone of her own would come in handy.

Recently, a nice relative asked if we wanted her old TracFone. “You can just prepay for the minutes you think you will use!” she told us. This seemed to be the perfect way to enter the cell phone world, particularly since we intended to use the phone so very little.

I got a little bit excited when I saw our new cell phone for the first time. I unwrapped it from the bubble wrap the nice relative had wrapped it in. I flipped the top of the phone open and in one instant crossed into the addicting world of the cell phone. And while I had absolutely no desire to call anyone and absolutely no desire to have anyone call me, I did feel just a little bit more important knowing that these calls could happen if I wanted them to.

I motioned for the teenager to come take a look at the new cell phone. I wanted her to feel just a little more important too. I wanted her to feel like, finally, she would fit in with all of her peers. When the soccer team phone list came out, she would no longer be the only girl on the list without her own cell number. Perhaps, she’d even lose her fear of talking on the phone.

The teenager walked up to the table where the cell phone was sitting on top of the bubble wrap it came wrapped in. The nice relative and I looked on, in great anticipation of the teenager’s reaction to seeing her cell phone for the first time.

“Teenager! Look what this nice relative gave you! Can you believe it?” I excitedly said to the teenager as I pointed toward the phone.

The teenager’s face lit up. A big grin spread across her face. Her hand reached down toward the phone.

“Wow! Cool!” she yelled out, as her hand bypassed the phone and quickly grabbed the bubble wrap. “That is the coolest bubble wrap! I love bubble wrap! Can I pop it?”




Check This Out!


The Slightly Exaggerated CEO has been obsessed with Dean Martin, as of late. Numerous Dean Martin biographies have been read. His music has been playing constantly. And his movies have all been put to the top of the Netflix queue. One of the favorite movies has been, The Young Lions. Not being a “WWII movie kind of gal”, I hadn’t anticipated enjoying this war movie, which stars Dean Martin, Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando. Released in 1958, Young Lions is most definitely full of all the good and the bad that comes with a movie of that age. (I am always surprised by how abruptly movies from that time period frequently seem to end.) Nevertheless, I did enjoy The Young Lions quite a bit and urge you to move it to the top of your Netflix queue.

And while you’re waiting for you movie to come in, check out my favorite Dean Martin song, Ain’t That a Kick in the Head, from the original 1960 Ocean’s Eleven movie.

7 comments:

everybody loves somebody said...

I love, love, love Dean Martin. He's my favorite. Maybe I'll call you right now on your new cell and we can talk about it!

calimom said...

Come on, you can't be serious. Bubble wrap vs a cell phone? Really? It's no contest! The bubble wrap wins hands down!

Anonymous said...

I hated my cell phone. It was too easy to use it, for no really good reason at all. People would call and I'd answer because it might be "important". It became such a habit. I lost my phone for awhile and quite honestly, I've never been happier. I was less stressed, full of peace and had my life back. I did meaningful well thought out, purposeful things instead of desperately trying to fill downtime and empty space with chit chat, just because I could. I now plan ahead and find that I really don't "need" a cell phone at all. I went to a tracfone, like you, and it now sits, in the bottom of my purse somewhere, for emergencies only. For me,I've found that by getting rid of my phone, I've gained a much higher quality of life.

2345yesman said...

Constant cell phone chatting and texting is a symptom of someone who is afraid of what they will find when they are alone with themselves. They are afraid of what the silence will reveal.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you could steal the teenager's new phone, download Dean Martin ringtones and then you would WANT people to call you because you would then hear Dean all of the time!

dino martin peters said...

Hey pallie, how cool to find 'nother pallie turnin' Dinoholic...never was, never will be anyone as cool as the King of Cool...oh, to return to the days when Dino walked the earth...

If you loves our Dino, you just might wanna checks out the ol' ilovedinomartin Dinoblog...clicks on my tagg to goes there...

Anonymous said...

Great, now I really am the only person on Earth without a cell phone. I feel like Charleton Heston wandering around the remains of the US on Planet of the Apes.