When I first realized my address book was missing, I tried not to panic. It will turn up, I told myself, still picturing it sitting, as it usually does, right beside my computer, on my desk, ready for service.
You see, despite the fact I’m online all the time, as most of us are, and despite the fact that I know I could keep all my contact info online too, I’m still connected, like a lifeline, to the small pages of my address book, where actual snail mail addresses nestle side by side with updated cell phone numbers and land lines. When I travel, as I do frequently, I simply slip my address book in my purse or carry-on bag and voila, without having to depend on WiFi or cell phone service areas, I have the info at my fingertips to call someone, or drop them a postcard. Quaint perhaps, but true.
By the way, my smart phone also comes with me on my travels, and often my laptop as well. But for me the address book is the easiest way to rely on getting the info I need. No worry about depending on a good wireless connection. I’ve got the info with me, and can access it instantly, even when I’m out of cell phone range.
When my address book did not turn up after desperate searching, I tried the lost and found on the BC Ferries, since I’d recently taken a trip back and forth.
The young ferry worker on the line seemed puzzled.
“Address book? Is that like a piece of paper?” he asked. Uh oh. I thought I’d given him a pretty thorough description: small white book, with a gold ribbon around it.
Later, I finally gave up and went to buy a new one at a card shop. When I asked, the clerk said, “Address book? We don’t carry them anymore.”
Uh oh again. I tried the dollar store, found a cheap one, and reluctantly, admitting final defeat, bought it.
Of course anyone I mentioned this loss to looked at me a bit incredulously and said, “You know you can have all that info online. Why use an address book?” I knew I was sounding like a horse and buggy owner complaining about the exhaust of the new motorized vehicles. Still, I missed my book. It was tangible and it connected me to people, no matter where I was
It’s been my go-to place to record new addresses, new numbers, and most importantly, cell phone numbers, which I would jot in my book quickly when people emailed them, rather than take the time to enter them each in my smart phone contact list (big mistake, I know). By the way, why hasn’t someone created an online cell phone telephone listing yet?
Then, I got a phone call. My granddaughter had good news for me. She was holding my address book in her hand! It had turned up at her house, and I figure I had inadvertently packed it with her things as we escorted her home, by ferry, recently. I felt like a little miracle had occurred!
So, my address book is back and my husband has pledged to sit down with me and help me enter the information online as well. Sounds good, but old habits die hard. I just got back from a trip yesterday, and guess what I carried, snugly and happily buried in my purse.
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