Monday, February 28, 2011

Yes

I could not believe that three days after I wrote that last post my phone died. Kaput. Nothing. I had turned it off because it was being slow and sluggish and then found I could not turn it back on. The phone is four years old so it wasn't completely unexpected. My husband I had been talking about the possibility of replacing it for my birthday next month but it was sort of a pain that it just stopped working while I was using it to entertain the two year old during the six year old's basketball game. Also, it freaked me out a little. I mean I'm sure God is busy with so many things that he wouldn't be smiting my cell phone from above because I am playing too much Words With Friends. Right? I was a little embarrassed that the thought had even crossed my mind.

I went 24 hours without a phone. Luckily it was the weekend and my husband and kids were around so I wasn't worried I would miss one of them trying to reach me. I ran one errand by myself without it, and spent more time worrying about needing it than was warranted. I mean seriously, I used to go places and do things without a cell phone for back-up all the time. It was not neccessary for me to spend the entire errand worrying about what I would do if my car broke down. Also, I spent a lot of time and energy wondering what time it was. I don't even own a watch anymore and I had to ask another person to tell me the time. She looked at me rather oddly. Also, during that 24 hours I REACHED for my phone approximately 1 billion times when bored for more than 30 seconds. I did not realize how often I pull that thing out to kill time while my husband fills up the gas tank or I am waiting in line. It was alarming how quickly I got bored in these situations which were, really, only a few minutes long. Five tops. I should be able to be alone in my own head for five minutes!

While that was an interesting and telling little experiment, I don't really feel like I need to be running all over town with no phone so on Sunday we were off to see the experts. I fully expected them to tell me that while we'd had a good run together, my phone was gone (like I said it was old...the person who looked at it to see if it could be fixed was...I don't know if impressed is the right word but she DID comment on it) and I would need to buy a new one. "Well, so much for that being a sign" I thought. Surely if it was a sign I would not be getting a new, fancier, faster, more memory having, gadget-ier phone a week or so before Lent. That didn't make any sense at all.

(I am not even 100% sure I believe in signs, I told myself, not for the first time over the last 24 hours. My younger self would have called the death of my phone so soon after that post as a coincidence. A funny, HA HA coincidence).

The expert looked at it and then looked at me and said, "This is an old phone. It may be time to buy a new one." I nodded. This was exacly what I had expected her to say. I had already spent the time waiting to be helped picking out the fancy new case I was going to put on my fancy new phone. "Or, if you'd like, I can try to get this one working again but I will have to erase everything on it."

And there it is. Free will. Make a choice. No to my lenten resolution meant a fancy new phone which I was sure to load up with time-sucking gadgets in no time! (Let's be honest. There was no way I was going to be able to keep from taking it for a test drive. Let's get this baby out on the open information superhighway and see what she's got!) OR, YES. Yes to fixing my old phone which would come back to me bare bones, with none of the old time-sucking apps that used to be there. Yes to my Lenten commitment of focusing more on what is precious to me. By saying yes I was pretty much agreeing to the exact scenario that I had claimed to want...have my phone available to me for emergencies and the basic tasks that make my day easier without all the other things that were such a temptation. I'd already been green lighted for the purchase of a new phone, I was due for a new phone, the pretty pink case was going to look so pretty on my new phone!

"So, do you want to give it a go with the old phone?"

Yes.

1 comment:

  1. So proud of you Meg! And so hard to do! I hope you get that fancy new phone and fancy pink case in your Easter basket!

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