That Crazy Phone call

 

                                                        Cuz Dewey in China

For today:

You modern up-to-date people know everything about that phone (computer) you carry around.

You know what? For years we traveled the USA and other parts of the world that we will never see again, and the only communications with family was from pay phones.  I mean pay phones that costed up from $5 to $20 a minute for long distance.  Now you must understand long distance could be 20 or 30 miles according to how Ma Bell decided.

Now? We cannot walk around the block without hearing,"Do you have your phone?”

I call them ‘the leash!’  We are bound to a phone.  Even some children  have a $1000 phone. How did all this happen?

OK, last night I was working on a blog entry you have read by now, about our travels in desert areas. Sherry asked, “Do you want to try and answer this?” as she slid her tablet over to me. I had no idea what I was doing but I saw my crazy cousin Dewey’s name.  WE never know where Dewey is. For some reason he has a love for Oriental countries. I think that call was from Thailand. WE talked and looked at each other for 15-30 minutes. In 1963 that would have cost about two months pay, without the visual, just the phone conversation, from Thailand to Florida USA.

Anyway, I told him I did not know how to do this stuff. He said, “I thought you were the smart one in the family?” I told him I was, but do not do this again!  WE did the Merry Christmas’s, and I finally figured how to hang up.

I am not complaining. I KNOW how wonderful that would have been when I was on a ship in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea or even Gitmo.. If I could have talked to Sherry and see her and the boys. I thought we were pretty modern for a while we exchanged tape cassettes, and I could HEAR her voice. But to have been able to SEE her, that would have been WONDERFUL.

BUT for now, we are happy to live with the phone as we did most of our later lives.

And YES, I am old. I remember four-digit phone numbers, operators who asked, “Number Please?” and party lines. You could only move 3 or 5 feet because of the land line phone cord.

Anyway, my word # is up. I hope you had a great Christmas. And enjoy your phone

Nite Shipslog

PS 

My Sister Shirl (RIP), Dewey and sitting is my oldest cousin Harold still around in his 90's. When Dewey is in the area he makes sure we go see some kin.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful. It was good to see and hear Dewey. He is probably the closest family I have from the past. He keeps me informed of family happens 30 miles away from us and him halfway across the world.

 Thank each of you for stopping by!  We appreciate it.