without connection

I resisted cell phones for a long time. I did not see them as a necessity and I thought they were silly. When I was 16 my parents got one. It was black. Flipped open and you had to pull the antenna out. My dad placed it under the seat of his red Mitsubishi and told me it was for emergency use only. It wasn't even turned on. Those were the days when you had all your friends’ phone numbers memorized. If someone handed me an empty cell phone and told me to call as many people as I could, it would probably be my parents’ house. And maybe my boyfriend.

In 2004 I was commuting to my job in Sauk Rapids, from Ramsey. My sister switched cell phone plans and asked me to take her old one for the next two months until the plan expired. I had no problem with that. The long drive was very remote; I planned to get a job in the metro area, but during my commute to East Jesus Nowhere and then some, it seemed like a handy safety precaution.

By the time the plan expired, I had secured a job in Maple Grove. I didn't feel compelled to commit to a provider and be accessible to anyone at all hours. But my boyfriend at the time did.  And while, it wasn't the fact that he wanted me to have one that caused me to succumb to the cell phone trend, (My 14 and 16 year old brothers had already consumed the once untouchable-emergency-phone-only, by that time my parents both had cell phones and my brothers promptly absorbed them.)it was for the reason that I was living with my parents and siblings and the privacy of a cell phone was preferred to the old fashioned land-line method, in which any of the household members or guests could pick up a line and listen.

This was inspired by the fact that I forgot my phone today. I found myself wondering if I left it on my bed, if the cats would discover it and eat it, or if I dropped it somewhere else, would I be able to find it when I got home, etc. And then I thought remember that time when cell phones were something I never really wanted? Now, here I sit iPhone on my mind, and feeling as though I went to work without any pants on.