I have trouble throwing things away. I always look at something and think through the possibilities. It’s not junk, it is an underappreciated item. One thing I haven’t thrown away is an old phone. Not an old cell phone, not an old portable phone, an old push-button, has-to-be-plugged-into-the-wall phone. It has actually come in handy a couple of times. During power outages caused by hurricanes Frances and Jean in 2004, we used this phone to make phone calls. Plug it into a jack and it works, no power needed. But that was a while ago. In the meantime, I keep it around to test phone lines. We are always changing things around the nursery and every time I have to move a phone jack, I use the old phone to test my work.

The other day the girls found it in my car and stared at it like it was a fearsome creature. When I told them it was a phone, Maddy picks it up, turns it over in her hands, looking for the screen. She held one end to her ear and said, “Hello, is anyone there?” and then asks me, “Why isn’t it working?” Her assumption was that it needed to charge. I tried to explain that it has to be plugged in all the time to work, that it doesn’t have to charge. The looks of disbelief and incredulity that I was given made me realize that any words I said were going to be ignored. I clearly wasn’t understanding how phones work.

I finally convinced them that it was a phone, and after the disbelief subsided, they were thrilled to make an ancient artifact a part of their collection of toys. Maddy has taken to keeping it by her bed. I think she is waiting for it to ring to prove me wrong about needing to be plugged in. And that’s why I can’t throw things away. You never know when something can be put to use.

Phones have come a long way over time, and I’ll bet most of you have one that doesn’t need to be plugged in and has a camera on it. Well, that’s perfect for a visit to the Kerby’s Pumpkin Patch. Although they were delayed, our pumpkin shipment finally made it and was unloaded under the light of the harvest moon last Thursday night. Come check them out and take a fun fall photo at the Pumpkin Wall. It’s definitely time to make fall happen.