calliecritturs
Posted : 8/11/2012 2:13:37 AM
fuzzy_dogs_mom
tacran
I got my first cell phone a few months ago -- it sits (turned off) at the bottom of my purse. I forget it's there (I wanted it for emergencies only). No surprise --- the ringtone is the default setting it came with.
My kids have the number but they know only to use it if I'm traveling because otherwise it isn't turned on ... unless I need to make a call. I have to admit that I don't usually recognize the ring when I hear it. Usually it's dead although I remember to charge it if I'm going out of town. I often forget what the number is so I have to use it to call my landline and see what number pops up on the caller ID.
Joyce
It's kind of a "make up your mind to USE it" thing -- David and I tag team a bit -- I just couldn't remember it until I started plugging it in **every** night right after dinner (we eat late, I'm married to a Brit =-) ) -- that reminds HIM to put his up and he takes both off the charger in the AM and drops mine in my purse.
Several years ago a horrific wreck happened on I-4 and a woman got hit by other cars and it sent HER car airborne OFF the highway on an overpass. Her car caught on a piece of the overpass and literally the woman and her car hung by ONE BOLT over this other road.about 100 feet down.
She dialed her cell by "feel" (this was before smart phones even), because her husband's number was the first on the phone list. She was able to get him, he got 911 and got help for her while her car was literally hanging there.
The whole wreck wasn't her fault -- and it really hit me hard that if something happened to ME, and I carry the cell "for emergencies" would I be able to use mine like she did?
When we all 'start' with cell phones the first idea is "for an emergency" but wait just a second -- who is to say that "in an emergency" we're gong to be able to be prepared enough because we were going on a TRIP to charge it and have it where we can get at it? Or is the word "emergency" more apt to be when we're unprepared. It's more than just a flat when we're on a big highway. It can be because we're just driving to the store and had a health emergency happen, or maybe I am the first at an accident and need to call 911 to save someone's life.
I fought a cell phone tooth and nail for many years (and I still don't use a techie phone), but I realized I was deliberately being stubborn (and really almost proud of my non-dependance on a cell phone) in a way that was only potentially hurting me *and* my husband. For me, personally, it took my own decision to be responsible to plug it in so if the emergency does happen -- no matter what it is -- I've got it. It took me a while to examine my own schedule enough so I could work out when I would ALWAYS walk by the charger at a time when putting it up was practical.
Sometimes I scare myself with how set in my ways I am.
Joyce -- you've got it a bit harder because you're alone -- but ... in total honesty ... it's probably MORE important for you than any of us. Quite probably you aren't ever going to need the danged thing when you've prepared yourself to go out of town. It's more likely your emergency would be close to home and not of your own making.
*grin* I think the thing that scared ME straight was that I realized suddenly I was being WAY too much like my own mother by being so stubborn and boy howdy -- THAT got my attention LOL