LESSONS LEARNED

I was without my cell phone for THREE days and I find it difficult to believe--and I am now embarrassed to admit--just how dependent I am on having the cell phone.

Dring the three days, I caught myself dozens of times reaching for the phone and then last evening someone called me, urgently needing telephone numbers she thought I might have had; the numbers were unlisted in the telephone directory. The numbers she needed were stored in my cell phone! I told her that my cell phone was dead, but I would try to find the numbers she needed.

After hanging up, I started grumbling to Les, "WHY am I supposed to be the REPOSITORY for all knowledge in the world?"

Being sensible, he responded, "Just call her back and tell her you can't get it, instead of being in a dither, but, as usual, you want to be the rescuer."

After complimenting his use of the word dither, I looked in three address books, called the operator, and left messages for several people I thought who might have the numbers, but could not locate the numbers. Suddenly, I remembered that the daughter of one of my tenants is married to the cousin of the ex-husband of one of the people with whom my friend needed to make contact.

WHEW! I decided to give that circuitous route a try! The mother wasn't home; I spoke to the step-father; he gave me the cell phone number of his stepdaughter; I left a message; she returned my call; she had to go home to find the number. She returned my call with the number of the ex-husband! I thought, "I know they had an acrimonious break-up, so he might be irritated, but what the heck, it's worth a try!" He answered and very obligingly gave me the cell phone number of the ex-wife.

All told, it took less than half an hour! Les, said, "Good job, Sherlock!" I called to give the number and she was very relieved.

Lessons learned:

1. Never be afraid to call anybody if it's to help someone else with a problem.

2. I just spent some time transferring my cell phone storage numbers onto the computer and also made a paper copy.