I Broke My Phone! (but kept my ID)

One of my best friends, Michelle, called me late afternoon.

Hey, I’m flying to the Chicago. I’m in the air – doing a commercial for WalMart. Let’s hang out!

I was thrilled. I hadn’t seen her in over a year yet we talk every week. During my divorce and other hard times, she’s been there. And I was introduced to her through my blog. She was a reader and now we’re very close. Had I not started this blog I wouldn’t have met her.

She was flying into Midway airport and I work near the train that goes out there. I loaded up my dog in the backpack and railroaded it to the airport. As I got there I reached into my jacket for my phone. It flew out of my hands and into the air. The phone landed with a thud on the ground. No big deal – it’s happened before. The battery went flying and the case came off.

I examined the glass and the phone. Everything looked okay. Then I went to turn it on. The screen wouldn’t come on. It was black. I looked closer. The screen (on the inside) was smashed to bits. The phone turned on just fine but I couldn’t see poop. I farked the phone.

This was a problem as now I couldn’t make phone calls and I had no idea where Michelle was hanging out. I knew she had to get her car at Enterprise so I headed there. I was really in a panic because I didn’t know her number. I began to think and realized if I could get to a computer I could look up her number in my Google contacts, then borrow a phone, call her, and have her come meet me. This was getting complicated.

Thankfully, just as I approached a man to borrow his tablet, she rounded the corner. We embraced and I told her how bummed I was to have just broken my phone.

At the Enterprise window the clerk hustled us upstairs where they do special check-ins for people with entertainment accounts. I borrowed Michelle’s phone and began looking up the closest AT&T store as I now needed a new phone. When we got to the counter and the car was ready to go, they asked for Michelle’s ID. She couldn’t find it.

This wasn’t an issue as I saw her pull it out at the first Enterprise window. All we had done was walk fifty yards and take an elevator up. Nope. Couldn’t find it. I backtracked several times searching the ground just in case it had fallen out of a pocket. Surely it must be in a pocket or her computer bag. We just had it moments ago. It was gone.

She has to fly out in a few days so that isn’t going to be fun. Apparently you can do it without a license or ID but the TSA really busts your balls. She has no choice.

So, me with a broken phone, her with no ID, you’d think it was a shitty night. And that part of it was. But to spend time with one of my favorite people on the planet, that’s special.

I have a crappy phone now, as my contract isn’t up for another month and they couldn’t advance me the discount. I’m not happy about it, but at least I have my ID. And at least Michelle has her phone.