Silence

may not be golden, not even considering that old song. But it certainly can be welcome.

As a child of the 50s, starting university in the 60s, med school in the early 70s, I was never one for background anything. I wasn’t much for TV, radio programs, or music in the background. I normally avoided turning on the radio in the car. I am explaining this to provide a contrast to the present day.

The first “cell phone”, aka Handi that came into my possession was in 1995 while I was stationed in Germany. Ostensibly it was so that the senior commander could find us hospital commanders anytime he wanted. In fact, I figured out relatively quickly that it make more sense to send that heavy, Motorola brick with the long distance ambulance crews. If they had a problem on the road, they could call. This would keep things “in house” rather than having to go through the German road support services and running up charges on my budget. Although that  was an eminently responsible decision, it didn’t make the powers-that-be happy. Instead I was handed a second brick and told that I couldn’t fob it off on anyone, to include the duty officer.

For a reference, Internet at this point was still dial-up at a whopping 1200 baud, the majority of discussion groups were on various University .Alt boards and the KnitList was a great place to find people, discussion techniques, and get help on difficult patterns.

Then there were flip phones, mostly on a pay-as-you-go basis. By this time, anyone who can read this has already had a mobile type phone for a decade or more. Probably close to two, now that I think about it. And that phone, for most is like an appendage.

It was interesting to be without it, even for a day.

 

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About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!
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2 Responses to Silence

  1. ron says:

    Do you find yourself waking up in cold sweats, with shaky hands grasping for anything resembling a phone?

    Or are you starting to enjoy the sound of silence, the serenity of not being always on, and the delights of seeing far more of our marvelous world than just a small window?

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