Drawing The (Land)Line

Cell Phone

If you are anything like me, then you have something that looks pretty much exactly like the image to the left. The cell phone has become for me the latest focus of this whole retirement/end-of-life drama I find myself in.

I have had and dearly loved my cell phone for many years now. Sand and I would use it to talk during my hour long commute to work, and I would call her on my break or lunch times. It was a way to deal with the 12 or 14 hours a day we spent apart. The phone also represented security during those long trips home in the middle of the night, or on those occasions when Sand and I would head out on road trips. Then of course there was the convenience of the contact list, the time (here or anywhere around the world), the tip calculator, the multiple alarms, the calendar, the messaging, etc., etc., etc.. Darn handy, dandy tools these cell phones.

And expensive. The four adults in our family each have a phone, and the monthly bill is over $100.00. Since we are all pretty conservative in our use of the phones, I'm sure that's a pretty modest cost for a family of four, but the reality is that Sand and I need to be very critical of how we spend our money now, and the bottom line is that there really is no need anymore for the two of us to have cell phones. There is an inexpensive landline to the house that is sufficient for all of our needs.

But trying to get rid of the cell phone is like trying to get a booger off your finger. I lived most of my life without a cell phone, so I know it's possible to live without them, but they have become so ingrained into our psyche that the thought of turning in your phone seems almost akin to amputation of a limb.

Any day now, if you call me, it will have to be on the house phone. It's gonna happen. After that, I have to take a hard look at the cable TV bill to see if the Food Network and NFL football is worth a hundred bucks a month. Then Sand and I have to figure out why we two cars.

I will need to save as much as I can so that there are sufficient funds available for the internet connection in my coffin. I'm just saying.