You may proceed without fear.
Here is a story:
Travis and I went into the mountains with our family. We were not at a campsite, we were not on a trail.
We just pulled over by the side of the road and had a picnic in a clearing. There was a fire pit there.
When it was time to leave, I realized that I'd misplaced my phone and we spent an hour looking for it.
Then the boys and I went home and Travis spent another hour and a half combing through the underbrush and dead leaves looking for my phone.
But it was a goner.
Over the next week, we tried to decide rationally what to do.
We couldn't really afford to get me a new smart phone- and yet, without a smart phone- I would undoubtedly spend all of my time driving in confused circles shouting things into the air like, "Siri! Is there a Target near me?" only to be ignored by my dumb phone.
(To be clear, Siri does not help me. 99% of the time, she says "I'm really sorry about this, but I can't take any requests right now."
And 1% of the time, she says, "I don't know your mother's name." And I say, "Mom cell! Call Mom cell!" And she says, "Should I remember that Jonathon Call is your mother?" Siri and I have actually had that exact conversation At. Least. Three. Times. What's the definition of insanity, again?)
Anywho.
I kept saying, "I really need to get a new phone," and Travis kept saying "We really need to figure out the phone."
And we both kept putting it off and feeling like something would "turn up."
And then. Something turned up.
Over a week went by, and I was sitting in my bed, nursing my baby. Travis' phone was on the table next to me, and I glanced over at it just as the screen lit up with my face and the word BECKY.
Becky was calling.
MY PHONE WAS CALLING.
I snatched the phone up, feeling slightly hysterical and highly disbelieving.
"Hello?"
"Hi. Um. So I was in the mountains..."
"OH MY GOODNESS!"
"Yeah, yeah. I have your phone."
Turns out, someone else had stopped in the same place as us and pulled out a metal detector. Three minutes later, they had found my phone- perfectly intact, hiding under a pile of leaves.
They brought it home and knocked on neighbors' doors until they found someone with an iPhone charger (Can you even believe the dedication to doing-good here?!)
They charged it up and called "Mom Cell."
"Hey, we found a phone, you're listed as Mom. Know anyone missing a phone?" they asked.
And my dumb mom said.... NO.
"You don't know anyone missing an iPhone?"
Nope.
And then the lights clicked on. "Wait. Did you find it in the mountains in Utah?!"
I got a lot of comments on Instagram saying things like, "What an amazingly good person!" or "My faith in humanity is restored!"
But truth is, I'm impressed, delighted, and happy that someone returned my phone. But I'm not surprised. I still have a lot of faith in humanity.
I lose my phone about once a year. And once a year, someone calls Mom Cell and says, "I have your kid's phone."
I've had multiple iPod's (when they were still a thing) turned into Lost and Found boxes, I've had my purse returned to me intact.
I am a loser of all things, and a receiver of all things.
To me, the amazing, mind-blowing, insane detail of this story is that MY PHONE WAS FOUND INTACT IN THE MOUNTAINS. In the middle of nowhere. That somehow, a man with a metal detector decided to stop for a little treasure hunt in the same random place that we stopped for a picnic.
I know that it was kind, amazing, honest, and GOOD of someone to give my phone back. But was it unbelievably good? I think that most people are good. Most people want to do the right thing. I think most of the people who read this would return a phone if they found it. Right?Give yourself some credit, and give the people around you the benefit of the doubt.
Because I bet, if someone found your phone in the mountains, you'd somehow end up with it again.
Either that, or I am just extremely lucky.
Notes:
1. My mom isn't dumb. I'm sorry I said that. I just can't get over her saying that she doesn't know anyone missing a phone when we usually talk on the phone together for an hour plus a day.
2. I know! I am extremely lucky either way, right?
2 comments:
Yaaaaaaaay!!!
In your dumb mom's defense we were still talking on the phone multiple times per day. It's just that the phone you used said Travis.
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