Back In Action

This is a great telephone.

It is heavy.

It sits flat on my desk.

It does not have any electronic extras that go off when the power goes out.

It is just a telephone.

A tested communicator.

I like the feel of it in my hand. Not like my latest light weight plastic slim-line phone that slipped off the desk without warning or felt more like a play-toy than a real phone.

Because it sounded so "tinny" my daughter reprimanded me, "Mom get a new phone and don't buy it at Wal-Mart."

A few weeks ago when Jim and I stopped by the Rescue Mission in PA. Jim picked up an old-style white slim-line princess phone - heavy, clunky - you know a real phone. $2. Why not? I would give that a try. So we rescued the phone.

And I did give it a try. I tried and tried with that phone. It connected all right - but every time you talked on it - it cut off - every 30 seconds. Click. Dead. I would run down stairs and call back, "so sorry. Its the phone."

I liked the feel of it in my hand so I kept hoping it would "straighten itself out." Maybe you do that too - hope a problem will solve itself before you have to get involved.

"Mom, get another phone. Nobody can talk to you. Think about it? What if it cuts off with a client?"

Saturday we were cleaning at the PA house. There is was. Jim's old office telephone -sitting on the window ledge in the sun-room - now a dusty sculpture - a memory.

This was Jim's office phone for at least twenty years. We have talked over this line many times. 202-293-1878 - no longer a working number for us but a really important connection for quite a long time.

"Do you reckon?" Jim picked it up. "Let's give it a try."

And, now - it sits beside me.

Dial tone hums.

Sound is good.

Feels good in my hand.

Warm with memories.

Back in action.

What if we had gotten rid of it?

I rest my case.