Phone Number Roots Go Deep

When I gave up my land line, I moved the number to my cell phone so I could keep it.

I've had the same phone number for over 25 years.

It's a good phone number, a constant in my life no matter how many times I've changed homes (and jobs and boyfriends and cars ...).

The fact that my number starts with area code 303 is a particular point of pride. It means I've lived in Denver longer than someone with a 720 area code. 720 was introduced a few years back when they ran out of 303 phone numbers.

So I'm not a newbie to the area, as illustrated by my vintage area code. This is important to me. I don't know why.

I think it has something to do with needing to belong someplace.

In Virginia, where I had an 804 area code in the 1980s, you had to have roots multiple generations deep to be considered a Virginian. Coming from Nebraska (erroneously referred in the Old Dominion as a "yankee" state), I never stood a chance. If I'd stayed there the rest of my life, I'd still die an outsider, no matter what my phone number was.

When I lived in New York City, also in the 1980s, my phone number started with 212, the traditional area code of Manhattan. While I didn't reside in a trendy Village apartment or a fabulous penthouse overlooking Central Park (indeed, I lived way up town in a  dormitory room with only a bed, a desk, and a rented push button touch-tone phone), anyone who called me knew I was in the most important borough and that reflected on my own importance.

It used to be that a phone number went with a place. You called a number, and you got the home or office where that phone resided, no matter who was there. Now, phones are as portable as their users. Our house doesn't have a phone. Both of us living there have our own phone which goes where we go.

These days, you can't always tell where someone lives by their area code. More and more people keep their phone numbers even when moving to another state. You could be travelling anywhere in the world and still answer your phone, so the phone number is no indication of where you are currently located.

I don't judge other people by their phone numbers. Actually, I don't know anyone's number except mine. Most everyone I call is programmed into my iPhone. I don't even need to punch a button. I can simply say, "Siri, call so and so,." With blue tooth,, I can even do this while driving. Actually, I haven't yet figured out how to use blue tooth, but I know it can be done.

I really should learn someone else's number.  I imagine myself in the emergency room, bleeding profusely. Someone asks who they should call. I give them Clyde's name and they ask for his number. Alas, though I know many details about Clyde including his middle name, I don't know his phone number. I only know mine.

I hope the hospital personnel are impressed by my area code.