LILL's LIST

I’m still shaky from a bout with a flu-like illness that knocked me for a loop, so bear with me if I’m not up to Pulitzer Prize winning prose at the moment. However, that’s never stopped me before, now has it?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how hard it is for humans (that would be me) to let go of things, even when they don’t work for us anymore. I guess it’s the time of year that has me so philosophical.

As I approach 60, I find myself examining my life with an eye to streamlining it and removing the clutter that I’ve been dragging around with me like Marley’s chain. (No, not THAT Marley, the other Marley, the one in A Christmas Carol.)

My cell phone, for instance. I hate phones, even landlines. I find it very hard to have a conversation with someone I can’t see when I have to respond immediately. In an email, I can think about what I’m saying and avoid the dreaded “foot in mouth disease” that I’m so prone to over the phone.

When cell phones entered my life, I realized that one of my refuges from phone calls, the car, was now just another place where I was on a leash. But, because I had a sick kid and two other kids who weren’t always with me, I rationalized that I really did need to keep my cell phone on at all times.

Why, then, did I almost never get a call that couldn’t have waited? Most of my calls were from my geek husband who loves phones more than he likes interacting in person. Or from my teenaged son, asking me when I was getting home and could I pick up more chocolate.

After a while, I started wondering whether cell phones were a health risk. I read studies, many of which seemed to indicate that they are. I discussed it with Geekdaddy and he agreed that there might be some degree of risk with them, but disagreed when I suggested that we might be able to live without them.

Well, I’ve thought about it and read some more results from studies and I’m losing my cell phone – or almost. I’ll still have one in my car, but it’s going to be turned off. If I need it, I’ll turn it on and use it as briefly as possible. And it won’t be to tell my son that I’m on my way with more chocolate. It’ll be because there’s something that really can’t wait until I get home to be dealt with.

When I’m writing, I tell my kids not to interrupt me unless there are flames or blood. And more than a drop of blood at that. It’s the same thing with cell phones and me from now on. Unless I need an ambulance, AAA or a Saint Bernard, my phone will be off.

I no longer have a sick kid and my other two kids are 11 and 18 and well able to dial their geeky dad’s cell phone which is permanently welded to his belt. Or they can wait until I get home like I used to do when phones were black and came with wires.

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