Here's a Little Story

Once upon a time Rob and I each had our own cell phone.  Then we realized that we were desperately poor and hopelessly in debt, so we cancelled one of our lines and joined on his parents' family plan to save money.  This brought the total cell phone bill to only $20 a month.

We shared the cell phone, which confused nearly everyone.  "Well, is it his phone or yours?"  Two people on one phone line is, apparently, incomprehensible.  I've heard, way back, entire FAMILIES shared a line.  But I don't think that's even true.

What it meant, generally, was that the person who was out and about took the cell phone, minus when Rob was at work - he had a steady land line right to him.  No need for a redundant cell phone.

Many things have changed since we made the decision to go down to one cell phone.
First:  We have more money.  This is nice.  The bulk of our debt should be paid off by summer. (!!!!!)
Second:  Other people dropped off Rob's parents' plan, making room for another cheap cell phone line.
Third:  We both go out and about much more often.
Fourth:  I hang out in the Deaf community.

The First reason means that we can make different decisions with our money.  Funny how having money allows one to, you know, DO SOMETHING with that money.  But the really important point is the Fourth.

In 2010 we added texting so that I could easily communicate with my Deaf friends.

In 2011 I started going to Deaf events.  The Deaf community is a whole new world.  Main thing you need to know for this story:  If there is an event that starts at 6pm or so, there WILL be a group that hangs out until midnight or later.  They'll find another restaurant that stays open late, whatever.  And IF there is a group that hangs out until midnight, I will ALWAYS choose to stay.

This has caused conflict at home.  Rob worries about me being out late, even though he knows I'm not alone or doing anything stupid.  And even though we've figured out that I will always stay late if that's an option, here's the thing that makes it a problem:  I won't call Rob until an hour or so after he expected me home in the first place.  It just isn't going to happen.

Yesterday was discussion / fight # 3 or 4 about this exact problem.  I thought we'd resolved it.  Obviously we hadn't.  I was frustrated with him.  He was frustrated with me.  I told him I was out of compromises.

And then it hit me!  A brilliant solution:  Get a second cell phone.  While I will never make that phone call, I would send a text.  Also, he could send ME a text if he was wondering what was going on.  And I'd look at the text, whereas I'd never check a message on voicemail.

We bought another cell phone a few minutes later.  And we upgraded the old one as well - since it was a 4-year-old basic flip phone (the kids now have 2 ancient cell phones for toys - they think it's great.  They take pictures!).  So now we both have our own lines and unlimited texting.  Hurray for conflict resolution!

This should be a Mastercard commercial, right?  Phone purchase:  So much.  New phone line:  So much.  Hanging out with my Deaf friends WITHOUT causing headaches at home?  Priceless.

(A few boring questions answered:
The cell phone number you have for us is now Tamra's number.
If you need / want Rob's new number, e-mail me or him and ask for it.
No, they aren't smart phones.  By choice.)