Why yes, I Can Hear You Now
“Well, it looks like we’ve finally brought you two into the 21st century,” our salesman grinned as we headed out the door. I almost felt guilty changing cell phone carriers. After all, think of the life events that we had shared with our former company. We’d communicated our way through our boys’ college years. We’d shared wedding excitement, birth news and pictures, and job changes. We’d passed along health information and mourned in the loss of loved ones. We’d even managed to stay in touch when one or more of us were out of the country. So, why is it that we broke up with our cell phone company yesterday?
Well, we had one little bitty problem that they were unable to solve. No amount of calls to the technical department could help. No attempts at Wi-Fi calling. Not even the cell boosters that we had strategically placed in windows around the house were able to conquer the issue. There was simply no service when we were at home. Or at work, for that matter. For whatever reason, we dwell in the black hole of what is now our former cell phone service. After years of hearing promises that they were “just about to build another tower” in our area, we finally took the plunge and changed carriers.
It actually makes me laugh to think of the antics that we have gone through in years past to hang onto a cell phone call. If our phone rang while we were driving up the street, we would simply pull over and complete the call; knowing that it would drop the second we pulled into our driveway. We would run to the window as we answered, hoping to connect before it went dark. We would immediately grab our landline, knowing that we would have to simply call the other person back. And sometimes we would actually run outside to that spot in our yard that actually got reception. I’m guessing we actually burned more calories than we ever imagined, just trying to carry on a conversation.
And so it is that I was walking in the front door last night, talking with our middle son on my cell phone. Giddy with excitement over our newfound cellular freedom, I urged him to “hang on while I walk into the house and actually continue our conversation.” As I walked into our kitchen, I heard, “Mom? Mom? Are you still there? Oh no, maybe she lost her signal.” My face fell and my entire afternoon at the cell phone store flashed before my eyes. And then? Sinister laughter from the other end of the call. My rotten son was just teasing me; he could hear me loud and clear! Yes, even in the bathroom with the door shut.
Such a happy day! Calls don’t drop. I can hear you now.
Life is good.
Sincerely,
Susan
