I spent half an hour this morning looking for my cell phone even though there were only three places it could possibly be: my car, the kitchen or the bedroom.
During the course of searching for my cell phone, I dumped out the entire contents of two purses and then had to put it all pack, minus the empty candy wrappers.
I also emptied out a bag of clothes that was on its way to the dry cleaners, went through my glove compartment and twisted myself into odd positions in order to peek underneath the seat of my car.
Back and forth from my car to the house I went, getting more frustrated each time I retraced my steps and failed to come up with my cell phone.
As I went through this ridiculous process, I wondered to myself just how much time I waste each year looking for my cell phone.
Usually, it is hiding in a dark corner of my purse. I tried to solve that problem over Christmas by replacing my old, humongous purse with a more reasonably sized version.
Still, my phone has found many new hiding places in this more limited space.
Sometimes, it turns up in my pocket, which is an embarrassing situation when the boys are there to witness my absent-mindedness. Every time it happens, Jimmy likes to take us all on a trip down memory lane.
He reminds us of the time I was looking for my sunglasses at the beach, and they were right on top of my head. Bringing up the less-than-pleasant memory would be bad enough, but he also likes to point out that I went around asking people if they had seen my sunglasses …while the shades were perched on my head!
I must admit that cell phones are one of my favorite luxuries we enjoy thanks to advances in technology. They allow me to stay in touch with the people I love most and, more importantly, to keep track of my sons.
Jimmy, Tommy and Ronnie spend a lot less time waiting to be picked up from various practices and school events than I did as a child thanks to the fact that they can track me down easily on my cell phone.
Mothers are famous for devoting a lot of time to running errands, which made it hard for previous generations of children to track us down.
There is also a downside to carrying a phone around in my pocket. Now, Ron and the boys can locate me when I may not want to be found. I dare not estimate the number of times I have been enjoying myself on a shopping trip only to be interrupted by a hungry Zich wanting to know what’s for dinner.
Ron seems to have the uncanny ability to call me when I’m in the checkout line of my favorite stores. Does he have a sixth sense that tells him my wallet is about to get lighter?
Overall, the advantages of being able to reach them outweighs any sense of freedom I have given up by packing a cell phone in my purse every time I walk out the door.
Maybe someday I will even learn to keep my phone in the same place in my purse so I don’t waste several hours a year looking for it.
The only way I located my phone this morning was to call myself from Ronnie’s phone. As it turns out, my phone was wedged between the seats of my car.
But even that small task took a while because first I had to find where Ronnie had hidden his cell phone so that his brother wouldn’t use it. I finally located it underneath a hat on the kitchen table.
Then I ran around the house from kitchen to bedroom and out to my car, trying to be as quiet as possible because, just to make things more challenging, I had left my phone on vibrate.
A mother of three boys, Pam Zich has been married to a Marine for 19 years and currently lives in Springfield, Va. You may e-mail her at homefront@stripes.osd.mil or visit her Web site at www.lifeonthehomefront.com.