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Dear Shawn,

Lately, I’ve heard of several people losing their phones. When I was visiting my parents last week, a friend of Mom’s called her, needing a number, because the woman had left her phone at a restaurant and needed to get in touch with someone. Recently, we had to remove a passenger from our flight to Honolulu because he could barely find his seat, and when he did, he was so intoxicated that he could barely keep himself upright. As we pushed back, the woman who moved into his seat found that he had left his phone behind. The pilot was nice enough to open the cockpit window and do a drop so they could get his phone back to him.

My phone has nearly my whole world in it. Without it, I’m like my mom’s friend and would have no phone numbers. Remember when we used to keep everyone’s phone number in our heads? I used to have at least a dozen numbers memorized. These days, the only phone number I know I my own, and I often have to think to make sure I’m getting that correct.

Actually, I do have a number in my head. My aunt has lived in the same home for as long as I can remember. Her number, when pushed on the old phones that made tones, would create a familiar song, which I always sang as I dialed it, so I still remember her number. They say you can remember anything if you put a tune to it.

For years, I’ve been telling myself that I need to make a list of emergency numbers to keep in my wallet. If I were in an emergency and without my phone (I’m often forgetting it at home when I run errands), I wouldn’t be able to call anyone.

And now I’ve got that tune stuck in my head. Maybe I should call my aunt!