It was August 1997 and my mom had a simple question. “Do you want anything special for your birthday?” This was my chance. To be a part of the communication revolution and to jump in early…or kind of early. So I smoothly offered, “Well, Houston Cellular is having a 2-for-1 deal on cell phones and you could take one of the phones.” Just like that, she and I were on our way to becoming phone buddies. (This was our string with two cans attached):
Actually, it still took a little bit of time because sharing 60 minutes a month between two phones wasn’t exactly the most ideal setup. She’d page me (remember those things?) and I’d do my best to be quick about calling her back. We didn’t really hit our stride until we changed carriers and joined the GSM world of texting. Enter our matching little Nokias! She had blue and I had yellow! Twin-sies!
THIS is what revolutionized our ability to fire messages back and forth all day while I was in school or work. I remember people asking,
“What are you doing? What’s the about?”
I’d say, “I’m texting my mom.”
“You’re doing what now?”
I’d then look at them sadly because they didn’t understand texting but more so because they weren’t texting their mom.
She and I had that phone buddies vibe going on for quite a few years until others starting getting wise to our ways and joined in on the conversations. Over the next several years her phone skills became mad phone skillz and her ability to reach people only widened and soon she was impacting the lives of people all over the state, across the country, and around the world!
Do I take full responsibility for any of the immense outreach she was able to achieve over the past 20+ years? No, I certainly do not. But I do smile and have great appreciation for playing a small role in so many people everywhere being able to become phone buddies with my mom.
-Cameron
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