Where’s My Phone!

May 15, 2015

 

My little man Benjamin is on the far left with his percussionist group at Cypress Palm Middle School.

First of all, before I even start this blog, I was at home frustrated as hell last night because Benjamin was not ready for this concert, I was starving just coming home from work (thank God I had a pot-roast cooking all day), Ben’s shirt was wrinkled, I lost my damn phone, and we had to leave already!  Oh, the stress!

(But the worst thing of it all was, “Where is my damn phone!”)

So I go to my son’s band concert last night knowing we have to be there 45 minutes early, so I figured I would drop him out front and hang out in the van to catch up on my emails on my phone. 

Sitting in the auditorium on those cold hard seats can be boring.  And yes, I found my phone!  Oh, the relief at that moment of despair was priceless.

Low and behold, as I go ahead and park, I realize and say out-loud to myself, “Hey, I’m at Cypress Palm?  There is no damn reception here, let alone WiFi.  I won’t be able to do a damn thing!  This totally sucks!”

By now, over two years into having a smart phone, I will admit, I’m addicted!!  Not a good thing at all.  My friend Julie passed me by the other day and told me I never looked up at her passing by on Immokalee Road because she caught me texting.  Ohhhh…..not good. :(  A quick embarrassment and lesson learned real quick!

I had learned in the past to throw my phone in the back seat as I drove.  Something I seriously need to start doing again.  I can’t jeopardize my life over a stupid phone.  I have four boys to raise!

My friend Andy calls phones and kids with phones, the kiss of death.  I am beginning to think he is right.  Just looking at this picture below is very scary. I truly wonder what life will be like when I die?  Or will I die because this new life of technology we have been given?  Makes you wonder.

It’s time we all need to start being more social, physically as humans, not as a name or number that pops up on our phones, emails, Facebook, or any other social site.  And you know how I am with my social media.  I’m a crazy woman!  Thankfully I do most posting and writing here at home on my laptop.  Which brings me to cartoon jokes and the internet.  Especially when it comes to Facebook and relationships.

So those little tidbits of reality brings me to my little story today.  Last night after sitting in complete anguish in my car because there is no way to play with my phone, I sighed, took a deep breath and headed into those cold seats in the auditorium.  Thinking, well, maybe I might get some reception in there. (So bad!)

Why can’t I get technology out of my head?  It’s a true addiction and I am beginning to think it’s a plague, a very bad one coming on way to strong in today’s society.

By now, my mind is telling me, “It is the kiss of death, get it out of your head Annette.  Go sit down and relax.  Talk to some people like you always used to.  Be that social butterfly!”

I make my way to the auditorium, keys in one hand, phone in the other. Seats are still pretty empty but parents are starting to flow in.  I saw a seat up front and Ben has always asked if I could sit up front, so I set myself in between two young ladies, said my hello, and peered at the clock.  Hmmm…..40 minutes until show time.  What on Earth am I going to do? 

I peer down at my phone, and see once again, nothing. No Wifi, no reception.  I glance at the ladies on each side of me as they seemed to be doing the same thing.  By then, we all knew we were screwed.  Nothing but silence came.  And awkward one too. 

I just couldn’t stand it!  I blurted out, “Well, I guess since we cannot play on our phones,  looks as though we have to have some human interaction. Imagine that!”

Both ladies got a big kick out of that.  It’s like they were relieved I broke the silence.  Kind of sad if you think about it.  But then again, there are people in the world that do not wish to interact whatsoever, but these two opened up like a can of worms. It was the best 40 minutes of conversation I had all day!  They were both hilarious!

The lady to my right opened up about her world, coming from Louisiana just three years prior.  She had a young lady playing in the concert and she had three other children a bit older.  One was her son who was sitting next to her.  He seemed to light up seeing us all having a giggle fest.

So as we all began to chatter, we of course being ladies, had to talk about the men in our lives.  And boy, did we talk!  Thankfully, the son was was far enough away not to hear everything.  I also had to glance behind me a few times during each giggle so no one could hear us.  Too funny and silly we were being!

So the same lady to my right, was married for many years to her high school sweetheart.  She has since divorced, moved to Naples with her boyfriend of three years, and still has a wonderful contact relationship with her ex.  Her ex is even getting married in September, yet moved the dates to March just to accommodate her, his ex wife.  How hilarious is that!  And her ex is going into his third marriage and still in his 30′s!  What the heck?  What’s up with men?  Do they all need to have someone ALL THE TIME!!

What a joke!

“Forget that!”, I blurted out, “I am never getting married again!”   Then I went on to talk a little about my world and how I met my traveling buddy.  Non committed, open relationship kind of deal.  Basically saying, we can both have our cake and eat it too!  Something I recommend to all relationships. Being that you are not married, of course.  Takes all the stress out of the whole commitment deal and you still stay single!  I seem to becoming pretty conditioned in that respect because my friend does live thousands of miles away and it’s not like I see him on a weekly basis.

So the lady to my left of me was a bit more reserved.  She was leaving for Puerto Rico that night where her husband is.  He works there and she travels to and from. I think she thought the lady to my right and myself were a little too silly.  But she loved it and joined in, listening and chatting.  She too has a daughter in the band that night.

It was a very fun and interesting 40 minutes.  It goes to show you that we need to put the damn phones down and let’s get back to reality!  There is so much more than looking down on that phone. It’s taking too much away.  I had to explain it to one of my sons last night.  Not only did he have his headphones on connected to his PS3, but was also playing on his phone playing a game with a group of friends.  Talk about multitasking!  But yet ridiculous at the same time.  Hopefully he’ll by my graphic engineer for Disney and make us all proud!

Well, gotta go!  My phone is ringing! Lol!