Light at the End of the Tunnel

While my daughters were swimming at a relative's pool on vacation, our youngest slipped out of her floating ring and began to go under.  I quickly tossed my phone on the grass and jumped in to rescue her, fully clothed. No drama there - she was fine, just a little scared, so she wanted to get out of the pool. Cue drama: As soon as I helped her out, she ran over to where my iPhone was lying (safely) in the grass and picked it up to return to me. "Here you go Mama, pho-one!"

The scene to follow unfolded in slow motion. "No no, sweetie, Mama doesn't want her phone in the water!" (That's why I threw it out before saving you!) I could hear the wheels turning in her two-year old mind. She looked at me briefly, smiled, and threw the phone like a skipping rock. Only it didn't skip, it sunk. "No-o-o-o-o-o!" I cried, diving under to grab the phone before it touched the bottom of the pool.

After sitting a couple days in a bag of rice, I'm happy to say that my phone still works. As long as it doesn't get too hot and I don't try to turn it off. And the camera flash is permanently on, so it's bright and the battery drains quickly. After watching Pollyanna with my girls the other day, I was inspired to come up with a list of reasons I'm glad my phone has some new tweaks:

1. Before my phone glowed in the dark, I would constantly lose it in my purse. Now I can always find it in under 3 seconds.

2. On vacation, we discovered that the light on the back of my phone is so bright, it glows right through my back pocket. So now my husband intentionally walks behind me, lets out a whistle, and calls me his glowbug. Now tell me...what other phone offers that much sex appeal?


3. "Mom, I want to read but it's too dark in the car!" "Honey, I know it's dark, but could you find a tissue?" "No problem, guys, thanks to Natalie, my phone is also a FLASHLIGHT!!" Even when the battery's dead. It's that good.

4. I used to be afraid that someone would take my phone when I wasn't looking. But the chances of that have gone w-a-a-a-y down now. It's cracked down the front, the flash never goes off... not prime real estate, ya know? And if it ever IS stolen, we live in a small community, so all I have to do to get it back is to find the person whose pocket glows in the dark. :)