I didn't get a chance to talk about the day before my big break --ha, ha-- which I spent in the City. It was a pretty interesting day, too.

Every year I meet an old friend downtown near Christmastime and we do something special. The last two years it has been tea at the Drake Hotel. That's what we did this year as well. She lives in Indiana, and our plan was to take our respective trains downtown and then meet up via cell phone.

Well, I got to the station and realized my cell phone was not working! It looked like it should -- no blank screen or anything, but I could not make a call, or, obviously, receive one. I wasn't even sure when her train was coming in (though I knew it was very close to the same time). I also knew that her train was coming in to Union Station, not Ogilvie, where I was.

So I highfooted it to Union Station (only two blocks away, but big blocks). I had to stand in a line to get someone to tell me when the Indianapolis train was arriving -- luckily, it was late, so I hadn't missed her. I stood at the gate and was very relieved when she stepped off the train. That could have been so disastrous. It made me realize how much we depend on cell phones now.

Well, I had been thinking of going prepay anyway, so I insisted on stopping a CVS and bought a phone on the spot. Thought I would at least be set for the rest of the day. Well, it turned out it had to charge, it was impossible to get out of the package, it had to be activated.... ended up leaving it in her hotel room, charging, while we went out for our tea.

Meanwhile, my friend figured out how to fix my phone (taking out and reinstalling the sim card). And then I started getting the calls. Apparently the phone had been not working for two days, and my kids were in a panic trying to find me, calling everyone they thought might know where I was. When they went to my apartment and I wasn't there, that just added fuel to the fire, and I had lots of 'splaining to do.

Nice to know that they were worried. And worried again when I fell the next day. I think I have been a bit of a troublesome mom lately.

So now I have two working phones and two plans. I can cancel the original AT&T plan, as the contract is up, and switch over completely to the Verizon prepay. I would have done so by now had I not fallen, but thinking about the phone mess was not high on my list of priorities till today. I still have a long list of names and numbers to switch over -- I just do a few at a time, and then I rest... But by tomorrow I should be ready to tell people my new number.

Oh, and today is going to be a BIG day. I'm going to wash my hair.