I realized something this week: without a cell phone on my person, I am, in fact, completely helpless.
This realization was made quite innocently enough. I had a doctor’s appointment first thing in the morning, which in and of itself isn’t such a huge deal. I was going to meet with a therapist/nutritionist to work on a new eating plan so I was looking forward to it. Things began to get complicated, however, when I realized that the appointment (which was a first time visit) was in a different city. Not a huge deal, but when you’re used walking everywhere, driving a whole city away (12 miles to be exact) is big. In fact, it took me 30 minutes to drive those 12 miles and when I arrived, I found myself parked outside a big beautiful house.
That was when I realized my first mistake of the morning – I hadn’t looked at the directions before I left home. I remember the nutritionist had mentioned something about the directions but I had just grabbed the address, typed it into my car’s navigation system and went on my way. So when I arrived in this nice neighborhood and pulled up in front of a large house, I was confused. After trying the doorbell and receiving no answer, I began to panic. Because that’s when I realized my second mistake of the morning – I had left my cell phone at home.
And that’s when it occurred to me just how dependent on this little gadget I have become. Here I was standing outside a house in a nice neighborhood in an area that was far away from home (and that I wasn’t familiar with) and I had no idea what to do. Without my cell phone I felt utterly desolate, abandoned, and removed from civiliation. I was very literally (and figuratively) lost.
So I went the old school route. I got in my car and drove until I found a gas station. And do you know what? There was no pay phone. When did they remove pay phones from gas stations? So I drove a little further and found a 7-Eleven with one solitary pay phone standing in the front of the store. Hallelujah!
Well, at least I was saying Hallelujah until I made yet another realization – I had no idea how much phone calls cost nowadays and I didn’t have much change on me. Does anyone else know? Any guesses at all?
Okay, I’ll tell you. 50 cents. That’s right, it cost 50 cents to pick up a pay phone and call a local number. And the machine takes your money whether the call goes straight to voicemail or you get a live person. I learned that the hard way too. I ended up having to get change twice as I didn’t have a number to reach her and had to keep calling different lines.
Finally, we worked everything out. I was told where the office was located and promised to be there in just a few minutes. So I went back to the nice neighborhood and drove up to the big and beautiful house. But now I knew to walk to the side door and let myself in. I ended up being 20 minutes late for my appointment. All because I didn’t have my cell phone with me. (Well, if you want to get technical about it, I guess you could say it was because I didn’t read the directions.)
Moral of the story: Don’t forget your cell phone! Ever. (And be sure to have change in your pocket just in case you do.)
Are you a cell phone addict? What would you do without your phone?
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