Saying Bye Bye To The Telephone

I remember when I was a kid the telephone was scarcely used. It was meant for emergency situations. It was a treat if you even could afford one.

My parents had what was called a four party line and entertainment for me was listening in on other peoples’ conversations. Of course I was too young to know what they were talking about at the time but just knowing I was doing something naughty was thrilling.

I remember when my aunts would travel they would want to let my mom know that they got to their destination without an issue.  However, to make a long distance call was extremely expensive. So they would make a collect call through the operator and ask for the dog’s name or kid’s name, and then my mom would say they’re not home. That was the signal to let my mom know they had safely arrived at their destination.

As people become wealthier they were actually able to have their own phone with their own line. My parents had a phone in the kitchen with only a 12 inch cord.  I had no privacy and my mother would not pay extra for a longer cord.

So the first thing I did when I got married was to get a wall phone with a cord that was so long I could walk around our little apartment. Now that was a luxury.

One year, for my birthday, I received a powder blue princess phone with a lighted dial. That will still remain my all-time favorite phone. When the phone rang the dial lit up. How cool was that?

Most people don’t even want a phone anymore, they just use their cell. There’s something sad about not having a traditional phone and landline. I still enjoy talking on a regular phone even though it’s cordless. It’s easier to hold onto and the sound to me is still better than on my mobile.

So at the end of 2019 we are saying goodbye to so many things. Shopping centers, brick and mortar stores, taxi cabs for Ubers, many mom and pop stores, newspapers, printing shops, small movie theaters and people getting rid of cable. I never thought I’d see the end of cable. That was a religious experience for my kids growing up. Especially when they figured out how to hack into it to get some of the channels we didn’t pay for. I never did find out how they did that.

I wonder what the year 2020 will bring.

Happy new year to everyone and thanks for reading my blog.