Ave Atque Vale - Hail and Farewell

So I finally broke down and got a smart phone. Well, we still didn't get a data plan for our cell phone account, so all having a smart phone means is that now I have a touchable screen for more rapid texting. 

Since I watched a family of four yesterday sitting in front of us watching Star Wars, and periodically checking their phones throughout the entire show, I am not of the opinion that I am really missing anything too much. I, after all, remember the days when one would have to stop and find a pay phone in an emergency. I've lived without 24/7 access to the internet this long; I've proven it can be done.

When we were at the store, the young lady selling us these phones (30 bucks apiece!) tried hard but ultimately failed to figure out how to transfer all my contacts from my old phone to the new one. As a result, I had to enter them manually.

And so, this afternoon, sipping some wine and relaxing, I began to manually enter them. 

And that's when I was face to face with the fact that I had never deleted my late parents' numbers from my phone. 

I couldn't bring myself to do it when they passed. And my phone is so old that my mother and father have been gone since 2006 and 2009 respectively.

Perhaps not deleting the numbers was an example of unhealthy grieving. But I certainly know that entering them into a new phone would be a true problem. My new phone now has a streamlined contact list consisting only of the living.

As I look at that old defunct phone, it is strange to think that it became a relic of another life. That was the phone a son called his parents on. That was the phone on which I answered a call from my father with the news of my mother's death. That was the phone I was on when I spoke with my father for the last time while I was at a New Year's Eve Party. 

I may not have their numbers on my new phone, but I'll never throw that old one away. Too many memories.

Heavenly Father, grant unto my Mother and Father forgiveness of all their sins and rest eternal in a place of brightness, a place of verdure, and a place of repose. 

Mom, pray for me. Dad, pray for me.