Cell phones have become an integral part of most of our lives, providing an easy way to contact friends, family and co-workers from almost anywhere we choose. Can’t find the location of my latest newspaper assignment? I call my boss. Can’t figure out which bread crumbs would be best for the baked macaroni and cheese? I call my mother. Can’t figure out which T-shirt my sweetheart wanted? I give him a jingle.

However, that only works when the cell phone is with you. It’s hard to make those calls if you’re on the road somewhere and the phone is sitting on the armrest of your recliner.

This happened to me recently, and while the obvious moral of the story is to make sure the cell phone is on your person or in your hands, there’s more that springs to mind. First, though, let me set the scene.

Todd wanted to drive to the mall in Green Bay to get some hand cream with a “canyon” scent en route to his parent’s house in Sturgeon Bay, about a 90-mile drive from the apartment in Shawano. About 15 minutes into the trip, I suddenly realized my cell phone was not with me. I felt both pockets of my jeans and the single pocket on my shirt. Nothing solid and hard and rectangular to indicate the phone was with me.

At that point, it was too late to turn around and go back for my phone. Since Todd was with me, he had his cell phone handy on the drive to Sturgeon Bay in case any emergency arose and we needed to call for help. However, on the return trip, I was alone, which meant that if I was in an accident or my Jeep just stopped functioning, I was screwed.

Once the silent panic of not having my cell phone handy subsided, it suddenly occurred to me that, if I did get into trouble and someone with a cell phone came up and offered to help, I had no idea how to reach those closest to me, not even Todd. 

With my phone, I just look up the person’s name I want to call, and push a finger to my screen to have the phone dial the number automatically. If you asked me the number for my sweetheart, my mother, my friends or the towing company, I’d have to look it up on my phone before I could recite the number. 

The convenience of technology has made it unnecessary to “dial” a number in order to reach out and touch someone (an old 1980s phone company slogan — look it up), which was a good way to remember somebody’s phone number. It has also made it easy for us to not bother to memorize essential phone numbers that would be necessary in the event that we get in a pickle.

Before the invention of cell phones, almost everybody had a phone at home that was used to communicate with other folks. Most of those numbers were listed in a phone book, and most families had numbers for family and friends tacked up on a wall near the phone.

For those who had to be away for whatever reason, if something came up, anything from having your tire come off your vehicle to forgetting what your wife wanted you to pick up from the grocery store, you’d often have to use a pay phone, telephones set up outside gas stations, grocery stores and malls. You’d pop in a quarter and be able to call someone in your community. Further away would cost you more. You usually had a list of numbers memorized when you needed to contact someone away from home.

Once cell phones were invented, and everybody started to buy one, pay phones went the way of the telegraph. You rarely see one nowadays, and many of them are non-functioning. I even saw one in a tourist shop as a museum piece. With cell phones, there was no need to use the pay phones, and their capability of holding umpteen phone numbers and other pertinent contact information made it seem unnecessary to carry a list of numbers.

Unless, of course, you don’t remember to grab your cell phone to take it with you. If I had been traveling just a mile or two from home, I would have probably had a bit of a hike to get back home and get some assistance with my non-functioning vehicle. Traveling a much farther length, however, would have meant a much bigger problem for me if my Jeep decided it had led a good life and decided to die on me.

Once I made it home and saw my cell phone nonchalantly lounging in my living room, I immediately scooped it up, looked up multiple numbers that I call regularly or would need to call in an emergency and printed them up on my computer. That list is going in the glove compartment of my vehicle so that, if I forget my phone again or it decides to enter into a suicide pact with the Jeep, I’ll still have an idea how to get myself back to civilization with the help of those closest to me.

Technology may be a good thing at times, but nothing beats having an inner circle to help you out when things get tough, and having a way to reach them no matter what is just icing on the cake.