(the blur on the iPhone must be their voices colliding)
Yesterday we got our biannual call from Ty. He sounded wonderful--his voice, laugh, quips, news and testimony. As his time limit neared an end, he asked if we could call Cali on the cell phone so that he could tell her Happy Birthday. Calvin called her and put both phones on speaker and held them close so Ty could talk to her. Amazing. Communication from Taipei to Moses Lake to Seattle all on the same dime.
It made me think about how far telephones have come since I was a kid. We had a party line with two families sharing it. Our phone number was 655-4266 and we had rotary-dial phones. We had to be careful when we picked up the phone and listen quietly before dialing to make sure the other family (100 yards away) wasn't using it. All we had to dial was the last four digits of any local number, and if I remember right it cost 33 cents a minute for a long distance call so pleasure calls were few and short. (I definitely remember when the price dropped to 25 cents--it was a bargain and the same price as a candy bar. I counted the minutes--one candy bar, two candy bars, three candy bars, etc). I wonder if Alexander Graham Bell had any idea what he started.
Do you still remember your childhood phone number?
15 comments:
So fun to talk to Ty. His time is closing in, I know you're excited. You'll get to hear him call you princess every morning again while he's home. How nice!
I do remember phone numbers. It might just be one of my hidden talents, ha!
745-5671. You just had to dial the last 5 digits, and by the time you had dialed 2 numbers, you would get the busy signal if they were on the phone. I always wondered why even have the whole phone number, if it knew by the time you got to the 5?? My cousins had a party line - we were a bit mischevious with it. I feel for the poor ladies up the road. Ahhhh, fun phone memories.
That is so great that Ty could talk to Cali too!
I am completely amazed by all the phone technology going on these days.
655-4428 (That was ours)
655-4280 (That was the Jayneses)
That was the best surprise from Ty.
Good Night Mom!
We have done the cell to cell call "transfer" as well, good stuff.
I remember our first cordless phone and exactly how far away from the base I could go. We had the kitchen wall phone with the loooong cord that would stretch while cooking, or stretch into the bathroom for privacy when a boy was calling. 660-6357 was my childhood number :)
Easy, my parents still have my childhood phone number!
Oh I wish for the days of last 4 digits. We are now on 10 digit dialing.
Oh yes, the memories. We had a party line of at least 3 other families. One of them would stay on the line if he thought that you wanted the line. (rude) Also he would listen in and we could here his breathing, ugh!
The most awesome thing in those days was, not only did we have to dial 4 numbers, but we only had ONE phone that lasted my entire childhood and beyond. Not this "planned obsolescence".
What a great surprise for Cali :)
I'm amazed at how many of you remember your childhood phone numbers...maybe if I saw mine I would recognize it but I don't recall it off-hand. Of course, we moved many times so that makes it more difficult!
Technology can be so wonderful!
We had two rotary phones...one in the upstairs hallway and one downstairs. Both had SUPER long cords so that the phone could stretch pretty much anywhere we wanted to go. Seriously, we could have jump roped with the phone cord. I miss my childhood number 442-2353 (it was the perfect number)which my parents just got rid of when they served a mission. Now, they have cell phones and I don't even have them memorized! If I don't have my cell phone, I can't call them. Sad!
My parents still have my childhood number, so it is easy to remember...but it does amaze me that when I go back home and friends are in town I can still remember their home phone numbers too!!! My grandma still has one of those rotary phones and I have had to teach many of my friends how to use it. it is the one in her basement, it is pretty funny to see someone ask to use the phone and then come back a few minutes later and say um Tiffany can you show me how to use this phone,ha!!! we got to talk to my bro in law John on Sunday and it was so much fun to listen to him try and remember the english words to a lot of things!!! And Cambree even performed well and talked to him and he understood it!
Yeah, we moved too many times to remember phone numbers. Lots of other memories from all the moves though!
I love the memories!
I too remember my phone number from growing up. (my mom still has it)
I love the sounds of the phone.
Before my Grandmother's phone was turned off I went and recorded the sound. It was an old yellow rotary.
I connect that sound to a "hello" at the other end.
It is always good to get a telephone call from your children reporting all the fun and exciting adventures.
Yes, I remember my childhood phone number, and we had a party line too. I remember one of the families on our party line were dutch and anytime someone would pick the phone to make a call,he would start swearing at them in dutch. Of course, we didn't know he was swearing in dutch until someone else told us he was swearing. Memories...
my parents still have the same number too, I was in high school when we got rid of the last rotary phone and in college when mom got a phone that didn't have a cord. my husband likes to walk around the house when he is talking. on some of his first visits to my parents home, he pulled the cord out of the phone on the kitchen wall multiple times. My mom would hand him a stool when he got on the phone to encourage him to stay put.
I so remember party lines and sometimes eves dropping. Luckily we were related to the other party. And you never forget your first phone number as a kid.
436-6162. and i loved it when you only had to dial the last 4 digits. We are so spoilt now days. you don't even have to remember numbers. you just push a button for your list.
Post a Comment