Hello! Hello!

I've been in Boston this past week taking care of my grandchildren. If any of you have tried to reach me by cell, this post may clarify things.

A few nights ago Randy called and said he had had difficulty reaching me because one of the grandkids kept answering the phone, and no matter how many times he asked them to give the phone to grandma they just ignored him. All of the kids here had been in bed for over an hour, so I figured he dialed the wrong number. The next day my daughter called and said, "Oh, thank goodness you answered. I've called several times. Someone answers, but I just keep saying 'hello,' 'hello,' and nobody responds." Wait a minute--that sounds familiar! I didn't hear the phone ring, and how would my phone know to just answer itself. I have a new iPhone -- not because I've wanted one, but because my husband thinks that "the best" is possibly good enough for "Queen Judith." In actuality, all I need is something with buttons you can push and that rings when you are away from home. It still has no contacts in it, no apps downloaded, and it only has a message on my voice mail because Randy helped me put it there. So what do I know about how an iPhone answers itself so that the caller can hear what is going on at my end.

Later this afternoon Trav and Britt called with the same bizarre experience. They call, someone answers, and they can hear me and the children talking to each other. Okay, that's enough! We call my cell phone from the home phone. Sure enough, the voice mail message is three-year-old Charlie talking, talking, talking to me, and it never ends. (Thank goodness there were no bad words from either of us). Somehow my voice mail message had been changed. I knew that butts could place calls, but can butts change your message? Wow, these iPhones are really somethin'. It's all a mystery to me, but somehow I think I've gotten more than I paid for.