The Day I Ditched My Cell Phone

A blessing or a curse?

Susan Poole
4 min readApr 23, 2024
Photo by Aditya Saxena on Unsplash

I left my cell phone at home today. I couldn’t find it on my way out of the house and didn’t want to be late. You would have thought someone kidnapped my dog the way I tore through the house like a maniac — cursing, stomping, tossing clothes, and slamming doors until I finally gave up in a huff.

What should have been a relaxing trip to the store with my mom turned on a dime. I couldn’t stop wondering where the hell I’d left my phone and whose calls or texts I would miss. I hadn’t even attempted today’s Wordle or checked Facebook yet.

When I arrived at my mom’s house, I immediately borrowed her cell phone to text my husband and kids. “Hi, family!” the text said. “I left my phone at home. Text Grandma if you need to get in touch with me.”

Full disclosure: my kids are all grown and were at work, as was my husband. I’m unsure why I thought they’d need me during the next couple of hours.

However, my oldest was dealing with a crisis in her office. What if she wanted to talk? I told my husband I’d stop at the grocery store on my way back. What if he thought of something for dinner but couldn’t reach me? My other two kids are barely available during the weekdays. Why would today be any different?

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Susan Poole

Mother, lawyer, nonprofit executive, breast cancer survivor, and women's fiction author. https://susanpooleauthor.com