We aren't exactly technology people. We're both good with electronics; we just don't jump out and buy the newest trend the instant it comes out. Instead, we usually wait until it's maintained some staying power. Or sometimes even until it's become a necessity.
This was especially true with cell phones.
We were cell phone holdouts. We honestly didn't see the need: we had a landline, and there were phones everywhere. We were in class at the same time, worked together, and came home the same time. Plus, those loud-talkers and bluetooth-talkers annoyed us. And looked crazy. (You have to admit that you've occasionally questioned the sanity of someone holding a heated, one-way conversation... until you realize that person is actually using a bluetooth.)
Anyway, we eventually reached a point where our schedules began to separate. Scott picked up a second (and third) job, studied 18 credits per semester, kept busy with his upper division and capstone work, and placed in several national horticulture competitions. I also studied 18-credit semesters during my upper division work, served as a staff editor for one student journal, served as editor-in-chief for another, worked part time, and edited freelance on the side. Basically, we went from seeing each other all the time to spending most of our time apart. This change in dynamic cracked our resolve about cell phones. We finally decided to check out our options. Just to see.
On a chilly winter night, we headed to the mall. Those mall people seemed good at pushing their products, so we figured we'd give them a chance to pitch. We wandered into a T-Mobile store first. Lingering in the doorway for a moment, we mumbled a let's-not-agree-to-anything commitment to each other.
"You've never had a cell phone before?" the tall, techy salesman asked us. He almost seemed insulted.
Thirty minutes later, we walked out of the T-Mobile store, cell phones in hand, plan activated, and resolve obliterated.
We played and plugged away at our new toys as soon as we climbed into the car. For over an hour, we tinkered around, figured out our settings, and called each other. Yes, we called each other... a handful of times.
"I don't know how we ever lived without these," we admitted as we drove home. We cancelled our land line the first chance we got.
