Call Me

Call me, originally uploaded by melissa.coats.

This was the week of new phones. I (finally) purchased an iPhone, after patiently and responsibly waiting for my T-Mobile contract to expire. When I pulled out my Razor phone in the Apple store the "genius" laughed, not only because it was so old-school but because it was in such a state of disrepair. It was only two years old.

Then, after seeing some REAL old-school phones at an antique mall, some wheel dial, some push button, I thought it necessary to give the lone candlestick phone in my collection a mate. I knew I wanted a working model though, so Kennedy can have a REAL phone to see and use. They learned about dialing 9-1-1 in an emergency and our cordless house phone has three steps to go through just to dial out, once you locate the thing.

After some searching online, I found a new model on eBay, and it arrived two days later. It actually rang a few minutes after hooking it up, and the whole house filled with nostalgia at that REAL phone ring. Then, I realized there was no caller ID.

It's funny how I can be so excited about something so modern and something so retro at the same time. I suppose that has always been a part of my personality and taste. I can trace it all the way back to my own childhood when my mom would take me to an antique clothing store called Pink Flamingo. I used to love looking at the dresses and purses and jewelry. Take me to a mall, and I would kick and scream, but take me a vintage store and I could stay for hours. Even today I get lost browsing amongst all the memories and treasures of years past. The day I spotted those old phones, Turner and Kennedy went to a toy store. They came to get me in the antique mall, finding me in a booth with old baby dolls and Raggedy Anns, touching them and thinking, "Who had these, and loved them, and when? And how did these dolls make it here, in my hands?" Everything has a story, and I didn't want it to end. "You guys are done already?" I asked. "You've been in here almost an hour," Turner informed me. Leave it to the present to bring you back to reality.