What I Gave Up for Lent

March 20, 2008

I gave up my personal cell phone for Lent. I have been attached to a beeper or cell phone since I managed the Remington Suite Hotel in the early 1990s. I have a personal and work cell phone and numerous e-mail addresses and felt like I didn’t need my phone as much since both of my parents are deceased.

So, I read a book about a girl giving up a different thing each month for one year, her cell phone for one of the months. She said giving up the phone made her and her friends stick to a schedule. I left a message on my phone that I would try it for a week, but I pretty much stuck to it the whole 40 days.

There has only been one unfamiliar caller that I wondered about, but didn’t answer. I wanted to use the phone the first day when I sat on the bridge for 40 minutes due to an accident and when I traveled and normally checked on relatives, but I didn’t. I did have exemptions the day I was expecting someone to deliver a large check, when one of my Dallas car deliverers called and during a fight with the spouse. I exempted my cousin Cheryl when she was coming to town to let me know her whereabouts since I was already at the Boardwalk and that’s where she was headed and my aunt who needed to tell me about her emergency surgery. And I did use the work phone instead of the personal one the day it snowed when I was headed back to Shreveport to check the weather ahead of me.

Everyone I know thought this was a great idea. Even my priest said it would take discipline. Others asked their boss if they could get rid of their phone. I had people call their phone a noose and say they have wanted to throw it in the river. Some said family is the worst abuser of calling the cell before land lines.

Next year I am going to pay attention to slimming my carbon footprint. I am not going to use plastic bags, waste electricity or drive excessively without planning a route. Or should I start now?