My Old Friend- IMeanPhone

I thought of the idea for this blog doing something that I hate: shopping. More specifically, I was shopping for a new cellular phone. My old phone, a Samsung E100, was three years old (about 271 in cell phone years) and it was starting to show some signs of age.
The phone had been a real warrior during it’s time with me. I dropped it all over the place, got sand in it and even once dropped it in a toilet. But it kept on working just fine, telling me when my parents called and showing me when my friends had sent me a message. It was even an integral part of how my girlfriend and I met and stayed in touch over the summer. Believe it or not the battery still lasted a couple of days between charges.
The big problem with my phone was that the buttons had been pushed so much, they were getting worn out. If I was writing a text message, one keystroke wouldn’t register sometimes, throwing off the entire message (i.e. turning “Believe” into “Cegete?” if the phone missed picking up that I had hit 5 to get “L”.) I hope you can see how frustrating this was.
Still it wasn’t easy giving up on my old friend. I kept delaying the inevitable; I had made up my mind to get a new one, but decided to let it still be my phone until the end of the summer. I rationalized that I wouldn’t want to drop a new phone in the sand or have an ocean wave get it wet, but I knew that I was stalling.
After summer came and went, and I finally got the nerve to order a new phone. Sure it’s nice, and has a full QWERTY keyboard and all. But I felt so guilty as I opened the package and saw my old phone lying faithfully on the coffee table in front of me. It was like I had betrayed a trusted friend.
Actually, it felt worse. I felt like my trusting dog was sitting there, happy to see me, when I knew that I was about to put him down for his own good. I can’t believe I’m felt like that, but it’s true. We had been through so much together, and now I was abandoning him for a younger phone with more glamorous features.
I don’t know why I felt so attached- I’ll leave that for another posting. But I know for sure that I rally did like that phone a whole lot.

My friend collects old cell phones to give to charity so people can call 911 if they have to. It’s a great cause, and I know that I should give up my old phone. I even promised my friend that she could have it. But it is sitting in my desk right now because I keep “forgetting” to give it away. Maybe I’ll keep it there for a while. Maybe I’ll get the nerve up to give it away. I’m sure I will soon. Somebody could really use it. It’s kind of like sending your dog away to live on a farm…