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goodbye to you




you started off as just another replacement for a phone that i’d, once again, managed to abuse to the point of no longer functioning. you were destined for a life of being dropped, skidding across parking lots, being forgotten and sat on. and truthfully, i only wanted you because you were free.

yet there you were, one and one half years later…
hanging on by a wire…
still delivering all my calls…


i’ll never forget that day we sat on the park bench sending everyone a message that we had a new number. you were a clean slate on a picture perfect afternoon. a new start. you were scratchless and shiny and delivering happy messages. your messages were so beautiful, sometimes i’d read them over and over. you were so basic, lacking any special features or unique ringtones, but you made me smile a lot.

maybe your eventual brokenhearted messages were a result of the scratches you started to accumulate. pieces of you started flying in the opposite direction when you would take a tumble. i held you together with scotchtape that you still adorn because without it you would be two inadequate fragments of technology, no longer useful to me. you were taped together for so long that sometimes i had to replace your tape to keep you functioning. in the end, the wire that was instrumental in making you a telephone was exposed and stressed, yet you hung on. you would not give up. sometimes i would wonder if you would even make it until i could get your replacement, for free of course. practically in two, people were surprised you still worked. you had something to prove.

well, phone, you proved it.

im not sure why i could not keep my promise to use you until you were completely defunct. i got my new phone before you were even gone. i proudly showed you to the sales guy who then assumed i would want insurance on my new phone. i laughed, held you up again for him to see and asked him why i would want to pay for insurance when a free phone would continue to work in such a condition. 

that was the end of that conversation.

it was the end of the year… the end of an era. i felt it was time for you to go peacefully…



…powering down because i asked you to, not because i dropped you until you could no longer power on.




7 Comments.

  • John
    January 27, 2009 2:23 pm

    Shel Bell, another sleepless night? Nice flow to the story. Perhaps send to Nokia, maybe some advertising commission to be had?

  • cat147
    January 27, 2009 10:46 pm

    i bet this phone would make crazy colors if we threw it in the fire place. 😉 just don’t tell johnny.

    i love that you can tell how worn out the scotch tape is. plus the fact that you used scotch instead of duct tape. ha!

  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2009 11:29 pm

    You are an incredible artist and writer. I am truly touched by these blogs. I never really appreciated photography but you have opened up my eyes to something new. I know you love the photography, but you have a gift for words too. Jodie

  • michelle arlotta
    March 26, 2009 3:46 am

    that makes me smile. it means a lot that you are getting enjoyment from my images and words! thank you

  • Olive Tree Guitar Ensemble
    April 9, 2009 5:46 am

    Hi, it’s a very great blog!
    I could tell how much efforts you’ve taken on it.
    Keep doing!

  • michelle arlotta
    April 9, 2009 5:56 am

    thanks so much… it makes me smile knowing someone is enjoying it…

  • cat147
    September 15, 2009 9:18 pm

    hmmm, i wonder if we’ll see an iPhone blog in the near future? 😉

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