Aye, Aye, iPhone!

Life is returning back to normal for me after my recent iPhone scare. I take a time out to think exactly how I seem to have gotten here... here as in utterly dependent upon Steve Jobs' brilliant hand-held technology.
As everyone was jumping on the iPhone bandwagon in the beginning, Chris and I hung back and simply watched (that and there was no way we could afford to buy one, much less two phones and the service plan). Being avid Mac lovers and users, people constantly were asking, "When are you going to get one? Where's your iPhone?" I would just say, "Uh, my current phone is fine." It wasn't. In fact it was the worst phone I had ever owned. Chris knew I wanted an iPhone and would say, "We can get iPhones, but you know what has to happen." Ya, I knew but I wasn't ready to make that commitment.
You see, we had to give up our home phone. Chris made all the sense in the world like he always does. But I still wasn't ready to turn off our landline service. There is something kind of safe or grounded to me in my mind about a home phone. Silly and sentimental of me I know but the way I see it is its the number you learn to memorize because its YOUR home. Its like people with cell phones and no home number are nomadic and pick up and relocate all the time. I know its stupid. Anyway, contract renewal came up again on our phones and Chris presented me with the plan and I accepted it.
We got our phones and were so excited. For weeks and weeks, we tinkered around, adding new apps and finding comfort in Facebook and Vampires. Shortly after, the phones began to become less for us and more for the kids. My phone became completely filled with educational tools and games for the kids. Every time we went to a restaurant, anyone could see Aiden with Chris' phone and Reese with my own. They, too, had been initiated into the Apple World...and it was amazing.
And then something terrible happened. I loaded a virtual dog to my phone for Reese since Chris said we couldn't get a dog until he was dead and gone and probably not even then. It was Thanksgiving and we were running around crazy trying to get ready for my family to come over and I hear Chris scream in the kids' bathroom. "Aw, Reese, nooooooo!" I don't know how I knew, but I knew.
I was paralyzed when he brought me the wet iPhone that Reese accidentally dropped in the pee-filled toilet that she was trying to get off of. It was highly irresponsible of us to give our 2 1/2 year old a piece of equipment worth one month of her tuition but we knew it was an accident and not intentional. I immediately gave up hope that the phone would ever work again. The icons on the screen faded in and out and then wouldn't even turn on. When they would, I couldn't hear calls coming in.
Chris did some research online and found out that the majority of aqueous iPhone accidents occur when the phone falls in the toliet. Interesting. Anyway, he found something stating we should turn the phone off and let it sit in a bag of rice for a couple of days to get out all the moisture. It was worth a shot. For days I sat there longing to give and get status updates on my phone or listen to Pandora. I felt lost...alone. For a brief moment, I felt like an outsider of the iPhone world and became utterly jealous of anyone with one. It was as if they were mocking me.
Days later, the rice worked and I got my phone back. Verbally I stated to Chris that I didn't need another one for awhile if it had been ruined, but I was lying to myself. I think I probably thought about returning all the kids' Christmas presents so I could get another one. Okay, that was a joke.
So, have I learned a lesson about letting toddlers play with expensive things? Of course not. I have gained much admiration for those who have had iPhones and lost them... and to that, Kaela, I understand. And one day soon, I know the cool, sleek touch of the iPhone will once again be yours.