Or... iPhone Horror Story.
Last Sunday, something very tragic happened in my life - my beloved iPhone ended up in a hot mess of laundry. Not on the pile of laundry on the bed, but nestled deep within the washing machine. That morning before heading to the grocery store, I gathered my necessities, purse, keys and phone (as my grocery list was on it). But I couldn't find the phone. I quickly remembered I had tossed it on the bed while folding the previous load. And I was currently washing the sheets! I then realized my beloved was in the washing machine...yep, soaked to the bone in hot, soapy water. As I managed to get past the scolding hot water I fished my beloved out, ripped the cover off and immediately thought, WHAT HAVE I DONE!?? Then I thought..RICE! Luckily we keep a constant supply of of brown rice in the cupboard (does brown rice soak up water the same as white rice?). Who cares, I threw my phone in the rice. Then, the panic set in. Looking back, I'm surprised I didn't pass out.
I began to wonder how in the world my life would go on. What should I do? (I know, dramatic) I was home alone at the time and of course we have no land-line. (Who ever needs that?) I began to bring our ancient laptop out of it's 6-month dormancy and immediately emailed my husband (subject line: READ THIS). The message read something like, F*uck, I'm screwed, NEED HELP NOW. He emailed back – “Get a Bheestie bag.” followed by "Go to Restoration Hardware." I did a bit of research and ended up at REI, no Bheestie bag. I didn't want to go to Restoration Hardware because online they said they were out of them. I came back home and emailed the Mike the status update.
What to do now? I decided that I needed to just go about my day and let the rice work its magic. I mean I watched at least 25 YouTube videos showing me that it works, so why worry? I went to the grocery store, I cleaned the house and finished drying the sheets (although I just can’t look at them the same anymore). Mike came home and guess what, he went to Restoration Hardware and they had the Bheestie bags. Thank you God! I proceeded to move my beloved from the bag of brown rice to the Bheestie bag, instructions said to wait 24-72 hours.
Life without an iPhone, or any smart phone these days sucks. Life seems lonelier when you can't constantly check up on your friends on Facebook or text your Mom and Dad about what you're making for dinner. It was almost like I was being punished...no iPhone meant that I had no time to waste reading the latest tweet or catching up on a few of my favorite blogs. I had to find my own way to keep me occupied. Wait - could I actually do this? Sunday night I kept myself occupied by making dinner and finishing The Help on my Kindle.
Monday morning came, and it was very odd when my alarm didn't go off, I had no familiar sounds to spur me out of a warm cozy bed (such a weird way to start the day). Luckily Mike was up and reminded me that I was phoneless, and thus, alarmless. My Monday work day was busy, it wasn't until I got home and began to feel the loss of no phone. I needed to text my neighbor to remind her about the kickboxing class we had planned to go together that night. I was really missing my beloved iPhone at that point. Tuesday was also busy at work and when Mike called me on his lunch break, my heart raced...he was planning to open the Bheestie bag and see how the phone was doing. No surprise to me (I had already begun my mourning), my iPhone was DEAD.
After work I rushed home, plugged my beloved in to the charger and tried turning it on again. NOTHING. R.I.P. We immediately went down to the ATT store, where I had to resort to my old pre data-plan phone. The girl helping us couldn't hide her sympathy for me, there was nothing she could do. We hooked up the old phone and we were on our way, back to calls and texts, and that's it... life is just not the same.
I’ve been telling myself that there is an upside to this doom and gloom: everything is fine. No one is hurt, sick or dead. Life goes on and I CAN live without an iPhone. Yep, I said it. It's actually freeing to not always be checking my email or tweets to see what the latest and greatest news is. It's like I "unplugged" and am enjoying a much quieter life. I also like not having to be worried about where my phone is – like I’ll miss something if it’s not attached to the palm of my hand. I just may have even learned a little lesson - check your sheets for electronics before washing.
Expect more on this, as well as other musings about my life, and posts of good, healthy recipes and when we’re lucky, sweet stories about Cocoa Bean. This may be the only way I can get over my sadness over my iPhone whore story.
