LIBERATED

It was the final months of 2001 when my then boss (who was a big old Bear we called Biggie G and/or Coochie and/or Pockets depending on how we were feeling,unusually it was Cooch)(now that was a boss!!) called me back to the office for an important meeting!

We handed over our beepers and in return had placed in our hands cell phones!

Cell Phones!!

We had only been begging for years to have this ultra fast link to customers, our voice mail, to each other(!) and our bosses (Ahhh, rethink this!) alternative to the dreaded beeper going off with Cooch's number and 911 snuggled tightly behind it, maybe four or five times. The agony of driving around in a panic looking for a pay phone (remember those) to call, using your calling card which was an extremely long 10 or 127 string of numbers only to have his phone ring busy. And busy and busy. Voice mail hell.

Ah, the coveted cell phone. The link to humanity.

Years later and as many models (Gosh I hated that Nextel thing that would go off and interrupt my stream of idle day dreams as I tooled down some God forsaken back country road, making me jump and swear uncontrollably) I now find myself Cellphoneless.

Why?

Because Joe dropped his in a puddle of water and needed one pronto.

Why didn't we just go out and purchase him another? Good question! Could it be that he did indeed get a new cell phone last summer and extended his contract - only to destroy that phone (I think it was smashed when it flew off the top of his vehicle and run over) and was doomed to purchase the rattiest cheapest phone available from the store that day. Only he hated that phone! No one understood him. He would call and the first thing out of your mouth after he began talking and then it was your turn to respond was "What?" or "Huh?..........". So I bought him a new phone on fathers day and that is the phone that drowned in the puddle several weeks ago.

And his company is going to supply him with a Blackberry. We just don't know when. Could be today, maybe tomorrow, and hell maybe next month. Gosh, I hope it is not next year. So he took my SIM card out replacing it with his and thus I am liberated.

At first it did not feel that way. It took me a couple of days to realize I was not going to have it returned swiftly and I just accepted it, called my family and let them know what was going on.

As the days slowly turned into weeks - I find I am hardly missing my little friend any more. I made a trip to Nashville on the sly last week and left the guilt behind! I did not have to pick up the phone, explain I was in Nashville and then explain why! It was so cool! I just did it!

I did not realize what a ball and chain that portable link to the world really is.