Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time around 1990 I bought my first cell phone. It came in a big black case and weighed about 7 pounds. I carried it over my shoulder using an attached strap. The real purpose of the case, was not to protect the phone rather it was to hold the phone's huge battery (about 6"X10").

Once upon a time my 7 lb cell phone could do nothing but make phone calls. Well, let me correct that, it could make phone calls provided I was near a transmitter tower.

Once upon a time the life of my huge cell phone battery was about eight hours whether I used the phone or not. And if I didn't train it well (I'm talking about the battery) when it was new, I would get about four hours of use before it died.

Once upon a time the only people that had cells phone were business people (I was in the real estate business at the time). The "average person" had no need for a cell phone.

Once upon a time all cell phone calls, coming in or going out, cost... are you ready...$.50 a minute. I had a friend that routinely received cell phone bills in the range of $1,100 a month.

Once upon a time...cell phones were a luxury.

This is no fairy tale...once upon a time this was all true. But things have changed.

Yesterday a report was released stating there are currently 327.6 million cell phones in the US. This is amazing when you consider there are only 315 million men, women and children in the country. Americans are in love. People are talking, texting, taking pictures etc with their cell phones.

Today, I own an Apple iPhone 4. It weighs 4.8 oz. It is 4.5 inches tall and 2.3 inches wide. I carry my iPhone in my shirt pocket, nice and close to my heart. It comforts me.

My cell phone makes me feel... like I'll live happily ever after. I guess there are many others that feel the same.