I gave my...

...phone the night off last Thursday. Turned it off, plugged it in, tucked it away. Its not that I didn't have to work on Friday, I did. Its not that I didn't need to get up early on Friday, I did. Its not that I didn't need my phone in order to get some late night work done, I did. [Three consecutive double-negatives...a new record].

My phone is always on. Always. Its the curse side of the "blessing and a curse" part of my job. Of my life. I don't think my phone minds too much...maybe at first it was a bit of a transition to be on call all the time, but it has become accustomed to it. And with new technology, my phone gets to do lots of fun things like ski with a bluetooth enabled helmet, fly fish in the Colorado rivers, and bike for hundreds of miles on end.

But my phone is always on. Its always taking calls, making calls, missing calls. Its always receiving emails, sending emails, reading emails. Its always reading texts, sending texts, reading texts. I sometimes question the sanity of my phone. I question the circuitry. I question the battery power.

On Thursday, a peculiar thing happened. My phone acted as though it was operating normally. There was no error message. No strange beeps or noises. No funny vibrations or messages. But the rings stopped coming. The emails continued. The texts continued. The voicemails continued. But no rings.

Strangely, it was comforting. It was relaxing. Soothing.

It was then that I realized that my phone was not receiving calls. It was receiving all other forms of communication. It was sending all forms of communication. It was browsing the internet. Checking emails. Sending emails. But it was not receiving calls. Not listening.

So I gave my phone the night off.

I soon realized, after feeling naked and disconnected suddenly, that I had not turned off my phone in weeks. The reality settled in that I had not turned my phone off in months. Years. Three years. I turned off my phone and plugged it in. Then I slept. I slept not in my own bed, but on a familiar couch. But I slept. Well.