Kevin and I have a home phone
Yep, like one that has a phone cable, plugs into the wall, and an answering machine. Now - it is portable, so it's not the total power outage solution, but is better than nothing. After living in Kennett where Verizon sucked at our home, a land line was incredibly helpful. We kept the home phone when moving to Downingtown, although it took me a bit to get it hooked up. My dad had a set of two phones, with the built in answering machine at his house. He said they were spares (huh Dad?), so we "acquired them" like we do many things from his house.
When Kevin and I finally hooked them up, we made a test call to our cell phones and everything worked - hooray, end of thought process. Except, the story gets way better.
Two weeks ago, just before we left for Seattle, the home phone rang. Kevin and I were laying on the couch, and knowing that we hadn't even given anyone the number, just let it ring. When the answering machine picked up - I cried. You see, the answering machine saved the recording from the last person who used the phones. The message when the answering machine picks up is Mary Elyn's. And she says the phrase I must have heard on her answering machine a hundred times:
"I'm not lost, I'm around here somewhere"
and ends with
"have a blessed day"
I don't have the heart to delete it - and haven't figured out how to record it and maintain the audio quality yet. But you'd better believe that it made my day, my week, my month to hear her voice and those silly phrases that I've missed for two years. It also made me remember that the only recordings we have of Mom's voice are probably old home movies - I guess I need to get started transferring those while they're still in good shape. Happy tears, and memories of the most amazing grandmother isn't such a bad way to end the day.
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