The "I'd Be Lost Without My Grandkids" Story

Granddaughters Courtney on the left
and Camille on the right.

It was an ordinary day.  Just got off the phone with my granddaughter Courtney.  Had to call her to ask a question about the operation of my Smart Phone.  Seems she is the smart one in the family and can answer all my tech problems I may have with my computer or phone.  As I sat staring at the little screen on my phone, seeing if I could remember how she told me to take a panorama photograph, I wondered if she would know how phones from my childhood worked.  Would she be able to dial a number on a rotary phone?  Then I thought about some of the other low-tech items that are now high-tech and wondered how she would fare if I: (1) asked her to roll up the window in the car or (2) go to a record store with me or (3) tape a show and rewind it for me or (4) hand me the clicker for the TV.  Got me thinking about the evolution of the tiny device I was holding in my hand.  Is time passing me by too fast?  Would she even know the name Alexander Graham Bell?  You know … the guy who invented the telephone while attempting to invent a machine that would transmit sound by electricity.  Did you also know that he refused to have a telephone in his study, fearing it would distract him from his scientific work.  Do you also remember his famous first words when talking for the first time on his phone … "Mr. Watson, come here; I want you."  He also invented the iron lung and helped bring Thomas Edison's phonograph to commercial practicality and experimented with hydrofoil boats and airplanes.  My guess is that he would have invented the Smart Phone had he been born in a different era.  And, I'm sure he still wouldn't want a phone in his study for fear it would distract him.  Heavens, my granddaughter has her phone glued to her hand at all times for fear she will miss a text, tweet, or whatever.  As for her old tampah, as I am called, I'm going to have to call her back on my landline after I finish writing this story, since I have misplaced my Smart Phone and forgot the number.  I'll have her call the number and listen for the ring in the house so I can locate where the Smart Phone has disappeared to. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.