My New Phone and Granny

Tonight we went to dinner at the Westside Drive-In. It is a pretty cool place---cool enough to be featured on this show. Granny is a big fan of the show and the actual drive-in, so she will often willingly treat anyone who wants to go. We really like their food--Philly Cheesesteak, Sweet Potato Fries and Zane's favorite, the Patty Melt.

While we were waiting for our food I was showing off my new phone to Theresa. I was telling her that I am totally in love with it and she thought I was crazy. I showed her how it is a camera (8 megapixels, thankyouverymuch) and she thought that was crazy. I was trying to take a pic of Zane and I accidentally started the video camera. Ha! I shouted, it's a video camera too! Theresa muttered something that sounded like Pshaw.

Wilson got bored while we were waiting for our greasy food so I let him play Angry Birds. Yep, it's got games too. We downloaded chess for Wilson in about 3 seconds.

Guess what, I remembered, it's also a FLASHLIGHT. More crazy talk.

I can search the internet and check my e-mail, I told Granny. Zane was laughing at me behind his huckleberry shake at this point. Geezy Cripes, Granny said, using her favorite pseudo curse which always cracks the kids up.

At the Westside Drive-In they play 50s music. (Which Zane hates. Which I love.) When Theresa commented on one of the songs, I remembered that my phone also broadcasts FM radio and any song I choose to download. Granny waved her hands at me and said, "Enough!"

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But it is pretty incredible. I was telling the kids the other day how different their lives are than mine at their age. I told them that when I was young and you called someone, if they were home, they ANSWERED THE PHONE. If they weren't home, THEY DIDN'T, and you WAITED FOR THEM TO COME HOME. If they were already on the phone, you got a BUSY SIGNAL. Crazy!

I told them that when you told your Mom you would meet her at a certain entrance to the mall at a certain time to be picked up, you had better be there because that was it. That was the communication. Unless she was still at home and you found someone to give you change for your dollar and you could call her on the pay phone. For 10 cents. (Nothing like sounding like an oldster!)

I remember when I was young somebody talking about someday there being phones where you could see the person you were talking to. Crazy! (I thought that was a terrible idea because I was picturing myself doing something embarassing like picking my nose while talking on the phone.) But Skype has arrived without the fanfare you might expect because that kind of instant coolness is so mainstream. It's everywhere.

When I was little I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I was so in love with her life and the simplicity of her work and play. I thought it would be so fun to have her show up in my day, and how amazed she would be at all the cool stuff we had. Playgrounds and cars and phones and cool clothes (especially my cute yellow velour blouse that I always paired with my Britannica bell-bottoms in 3rd grade). I bet my phone would knock old Laura's wool stockings off.