It’s 1:04 p.m. July 2, 2007. I know my social security number (I’m not looking for applause); home
phone number; cell phone number (although I have to think about it sometimes since I don’t call myself
very often); one of my wife’s cell phone numbers; my parents home phone number and even my dad’s
cell phone number but not my mom’s (she’s usually at home). I know the combination to three
safes and about half a dozen sign-in names and passwords to get me on-line banking, consumer reports
and other secure sites that want me to prove I am me. I have to give a secret password to Blockbuster
to see what new movies are in my order so I know what I’ll be watching this weekend. Used to have
Netflix but Blockbusters Total Access was a better deal. I am not loyal to credit card companies
or retailers the minute I find out I can do better; probably a personality flaw. But, don’t think
it’s fair when new clients are enticed to sign up with a company and get a bag of goodies while loyal
old customers get butcus! I remember being a kid and signing up for Sports Illustrated and maybe
getting a calendar when the following year new recruits got football phones! When I called up S.I.
to ask where my football phone was (I had been a loyal subscriber for a year) they told me I couldn’t
have one! So I canceled my subscription and signed up again! Nobody was going to cheat me out of
my football phone! But I digress’¦for all the phone numbers and digits I’m required to remember to
keep my life on an even keel there are a slew of numbers that are the responsibility of my
cell phone to remember. Speed dial # 1 is for phone messages, # 2 my office, # 3 the wife (humm’¦
note to self, don’t let wife read this month’s newsletter or I’m going to be forced to figure out
how to put my wife in the second pole position!) # 4 wife’s cell etc, etc. Five, six, seven are
friends but I’m not saying who! It’s bad enough that I admitted to my wife’s 3rd place without
upsetting anybody else. Anybody else I need to call – doctor, lawyer, secondary level friends
(Admit it we all have them! People you like but would not take to the airport) are part of my phone
directory in alphabetical order. I have 103 listings (just counted) in my phone. Maybe you have more,
maybe you have less. Less isn’t bad. No one is judging here. For me 103 is a lot because I don’t give
my cell phone number out to too many people. While I was scrolling through my directory (usually I just
type in the first letter of their name and skip ahead) I came across someone who used to be very close
to me. Someone I loved but is no longer alive. I froze in my tracks. I stared at their phone
number; their name. Boy, do I remember dialing that number hundreds of times not so many years ago.
It used to be a number that I knew by memory because I called it so much. Then it was relegated to
the directory and now, and now, I don’t need it anymore. Now it’s time to delete it. Time to let go; even
though I thought I already had. I stared at that phone number for what seemed like an eternity trying to
delete it from my phone; but I couldn’t. In the end I just closed my phone and smiled.
Talk to you next time,
Fred
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