Upgrading your Communication

My iPhone was on it's last legs. I've been due for an upgrade since spring, but I've been putting it off in anticipation of the newest iPhone model, and hey, even with a new contract, $200 is a lot of money. The universe keeps telling me to get a new phone though, from the achingly slow response time when I tapped the screen for an app, to the cracked back, to now, a cracked screen. So, at first I grudgingly make plans to visit the AT&T store after work, which then turned to excitement. This new phone would have talk-to-text, Siri, a way better camera, a speedier microchip, and double the gigabites as my iphone 4. I happily backed up my phone to itunes in preparation for my new, shiny toy.

As luck would have it, the closest shop to me had a note on the door that someone would be back in 10 minutes. Remembering my initial hesitation to bite the bullet in the first place, I just chuckled to myself and went to wait in the car. And I took that time to really examine what was on my phone. Did I have some weird videos/pictures/voice notes that I didn't want the sales associate to see? Nope.

So then, I start to scroll through my contacts list. I start deleting contacts left and right. It's very cathartic, like cleaning out your facebook friends list, which is also something I need to do. That one time you needed a person's number during a work trip, gone. That random guy who gave you his number, even though you have no intention of calling, gone. Exes, gone. That one guy who was a really bad kisser you hope you never hear from again, gone. The number you've had since high school or college and haven't seen the person in decade or more? Gone. And who the hell is Tony? I don't know any Tonys! Gone.

What is interesting is who I didn't get rid of. I can't say why I didn't get rid of certain people. People I haven't talked to in years, and/or people who I have no intention of talking to or seeing again. Maybe I didn't because I believe in second chances. Or maybe I feel bad for not keeping in touch or the way things ended. Maybe if they ever contacted me again, I didn't want to have to ask, "who is this?"

It's a funny thing, who stays in your phone and who doesn't. Kind of like who stays and goes in your life or your heart. There are many different reasons why a contact may or may not have made the cut. You make the choice to move on and leave something in the past, but sometimes the past can come back to haunt you. I had my new phone for just a week when I got a text from one of those numbers I didn't delete. I still don't know why that number wasn't deleted, because reason says it should have been, months ago probably. But something was different. My response. My expectations. I had finally learned something. And as the saying goes, you're either a blessing or a lesson.
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