"I didn't know you wore a hearing aid."

This is what I remaked to a casual friend the other day.  Her response was, "What are you talking about? I don't wear a hearing aid!"
"Well," I said, "Then what is that thing in your ear?"
It turned out she was on the phone!

How terribly early 20th Century of me!  But, I have ask, "When did it become so commonplace that a person has to be on the phone constantly?"  I can't believe how many one-handed drivers I see going by my shop! That probably accounts for the low numbers of visitors I've had lately - they're so busy trying to drive and talk on their cell phone that they miss my big sign out front!

I can remember when I was growing up that it was very seldom that a child would get a phone call at home. (Maybe I should dress that picture a little further by mentioning that phones were only in your home - not something you carried around with you!) But these days almost every child I see walking by is either talking on the phone or texting!  The first time I encountered a person with a heaadset on was while I was sitting in a mall. I thought the person who came and sat next to me had started speaking to me!

It's hard to believe that all this craze can come to any good; although it probably isn't just a passing fad.  I've heard of people who can't go anywhere without some sort of electronic brain to help them through their day.  Boy, no wonder the person at the checkout can't count out change!

I have a sign on my shop door that asks all who enter, "Please turn off your cell phone!"  Maybe I need another sign asking them to turn off all electronic gadgets!  There's nothing more distracting when trying to ring up a sale and someone's "Ring Tone" goes off!  And all this time I thought a blackberry was something to eat!

If my 130 year old house could speak I'm sure it would agree with me - "Give me the good old days!"  To my thinking - doing business face to face and talking on the phone at the same time is disrespectful to all parties.  Am I wrong?

I'm considering making some sort of souvenir badges or bracelets.  On them would be "W.W.L.T.?" (What Would Laura Think?)

I thought I felt a slight earthquake the other day, but it was probably just Laura turning over in her grave!  And no, I don't own a cell phone!  I don't think anyone does - the cell phones own them!

How did people ever get by without these wonderful inventions?  But, let's not blame the inventions - it's the way they are used that makes the situation bad.  If only people would use the brain that God gave them!  Do I hear an Amen?

"Sometimes I wonder if telephones and motor cars are altogether blessings... when my neighbor gets into her car, it is almost sure to run for twelve to fifteen miles before she can stop it, and that takes it way down the road past me."
Laura Ingalls Wilder