Saturday, February 25, 2012

Wiped Clean

OaG and I were married in mid/late December. The original plan was to send the kids to their mom's for Christmas, as it's been a long time since they've seen her (OaG has full custody). But, about a month before the wedding, she called to say she wouldn't be taking them, which through a bit of a wrench into our honeymoon plans.

We spent a quick honeymoon at the before mentioned bed & breakfast and then at a beautiful hotel in Branson, MO. During this time, OaG's brother and sister very graciously stayed at the house and made sure the kids didn't leave it in ruins upon our return. But, then we came back to Fort Leavenworth and had Christmas with the family before OaG and I jetted to Anchorage, AK for my little sister's wedding.

Anywho, on that first day back from the honeymoon before Christmas, I was already deep in thought about it being my first real day as a step mom. THIS was the day I'd have not only a husband, but also little ones to be around me all day.

We started the day by going to the gym for a Crossfit workout. I suppose Crossfit will need a post of it's own at some point. During our time at the gym, I left my phone at the house. I figured it would be 30 minutes, and nothing could be so important that I'd need to tote it with me.

Upon returning, I climbed the 2 flights of stairs to our master bedroom and bathroom on the 3rd floor and retrieved my clothes before heading for a shower. I glanced at my phone on the bed (old habits die hard). It looked different. My home page screen shot, the photo I had taken last spring during the cherry blossom bloom around the tidal basin in DC was gone. In it's place was a hummingbird I hadn't seen since I purchased the phone. My apps were all gone. My pictures? Gone. Texts. Gone. Emails (email accounts even). Gone. Contacts. Gone. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Gone.

I fought back the hot tears that immediately flooded my eyes. What could have happened to my phone? Logically, it was one or both of the two youngest that caused something to happen, so I called them to the bedroom. After a discussion, I gathered enough of a confession to ascertain that they had wanted to play a game on my phone while we were gone and had exceeded the password attempts. Which meant that my phone had been wiped clean. To me, who has been so dependent on a smartphone for 5 years, it was like my life had been wiped clean.

Still fighting back tears, I went back down the stairs to my new refuge, OaG's arms. "Just hug me", I said. In my mind, I heard a little voice whisper, "Welcome to motherhood".
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Most of my pictures had already been emailed to myself or uploaded to Facebook, so that didn't bother me too much. Reinstalling my email accounts wasn't difficult. Most everything, at the end of the day, was not a big deal. But, one loss was particularly painful - my text history. Much of our courtship took place long distance, and OaG and I had some very special texts. I had planned to convert our text history, from our first date through the wedding, into a book for his birthday this summer. That dream died a very painful death on that first day of motherhood.

Suffice it to say, they are not allowed to touch my phone anymore.

4 comments:

  1. Oh my, that is a rude awakening. Have you tried asking your phone company for records? I think they can get a record of that stuff if you try hard enough...worth a shot!

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  2. I feel your frustration!! I had to get a new phone in January after I accidentally dropped my phone in water and killed it in December. It isn't so much that you've lost data like phone numbers or photos--or even precious text messages--that makes you upset. It's more the feeling of helplessness at having parts of your life taken away so suddenly. In my case, it was a stupid mistake on my part and I had only myself to blame. In your case, I'm guessing you felt not only the loss of the contents of your phone but also perhaps that your privacy had been violated by kids who should have known better. (And then maybe guilt for getting angry at them.) I think you're very brave to be embarking on this new phase of life!

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  3. Oh, that is sad! I would have cried. Like Kelly said, maybe the phone company has a record of the texts. Keep us updated if you get the data back. There HAS to be a way.

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  4. Hi I’m Heather! Please email me when you get a chance! HeatherVonsj(at)gmail(dot)com

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