The other night, we were having dinner with friends at a restaurant and there was a call on Joanne's phone. Normally, because we were out for dinner, she would have let it go to voice mail. However, this time, for whatever the reason, she answered and handed me the phone saying it was our friend Paul.  

I took the phone and wise cracked "Why are you calling Joanne?"   His answer ruined my night.  He said because you left your phone when you left my friends. 

I can't explain why that bothered me so much, but it was a black cloud hanging over me through the rest of dinner. 

Backing up, Paul had asked me to have a drink with 2 Texas friends visiting Key West and familiarize them with favorite haunts and I therefore spent a most enjoyable hour doing so. Of course, we took pictures and that's where I started to unravel as I put my black phone on the black table so they could get a pic with their camera.  Then I rushed off to get to my dinner date, saying "Same time next year" (leaving my phone, which they fortunately noticed, left at the bar for me and, what else could they do, called Paul to alert me). 

Once dinner was over, I rushed back to the bar for my phone, but it could not immediately be found.  I can't tell you how helpless and lost I felt.  Eventually, I found the waiter who had served us and he found my phone.  

There is no moral to this story, but something is wrong with my/our dependence on our phones.  

It was lost and I was lost!