David Todd McCarty
I remember when my family first got Call Waiting and Three Way Calling. Mind blowing. “Hold on. I’ve got another call. <pause> Hey. I’m back. I’ve got Jenny on the other line. I’ll connect us.”
Then later, for some reason, I got my own phone line. There were six kids. Why me? I guess it was just in my room. The reason was the other phone was for business. Until they finally got rid of their landline a few years ago, my old number was my parent’s main house number.
215.368.9426
Warner Crocker
@davidtoddmccarty I remember when we finally got our own line and off of the party line with neighbors. Of course my dad immediately put down the law that we weren't supposed to use the phone.
Warner Crocker
@davidtoddmccarty Much the same with me geographically. My first girlfriend lived just outside of our "local" calling range. Having to ask permission to make a call sure put a damper on things.
David Todd McCarty
@WarnerCrocker At that time, I was going to a Mennonite school, and many of the students lived fairly far flung, so that they weren’t considered local calls, so we had to wait until after 7pm to call them, or risk long distance charges. We’re probably talking 30 miles.
Warner Crocker
@davidtoddmccarty Given that our phone was in the kitchen, there was always an audience for each phone call. Rare that it wasn't.
Church league softball was our "hang out" zone during the season. School sports during the rest of the year. Best part about the softball games they were outdoors, large crowds and parking lots, adjacent to other areas to escape to.
David Todd McCarty
@WarnerCrocker No doubt. On the reverse side, my mother would field calls from girls for me and wrinkle her brow over these presumptuous hussies calling her son. It was far too forward for her. :)
We’re talking middle school. Our only opportunity to “hang out” apart from school was limited to a handful of after school functions a year. Rolling Rink Night. The big Quilt Auction and BBQ. Risqué stuff.
That’s when I began riding my bicycle miles and miles to meet up with girls and friends.
Warner Crocker
@davidtoddmccarty When the second phone was added of course it was added in my parent's bedroom.
After I left for school my sisters each got phone lines on their 16th birthdays. Times were a changin'.
David Todd McCarty
@WarnerCrocker Our main phone was in the kitchen as well, with the ridiculously long cord that you stretch either into the basement or up the back stairs. I guess the first big move was adding other extensions. More than one phone?! Are you mad?!
Warner Crocker
@davidtoddmccarty The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when I came home from school and dad allowed pets in the house.
David Todd McCarty
@WarnerCrocker Oh, I moved out and they paved the driveway, got an automatic garage door, and cable television. I was second oldest. The younger kids actually went on vacation to somewhere other than a relative’s house.
Warner Crocker
@davidtoddmccarty "Shut up" was considered a swear in our household as well.
I was in my 30's when I first heard my mother utter a swear word and it knocked me off my rocker.
David Todd McCarty
@WarnerCrocker David Sedaris says that when he was young, they weren’t allowed to say “Shut up,” but by the time his little brother came along it had become perfectly acceptable to shout “Shut the fuck up.”
“No smoking pot” became “No smoking pot in the house” before finally settling on “Please don’t smoke any more pot in the living room.”
Warner Crocker
@davidtoddmccarty The she swore like a sailor for the rest of her life. I presume to make up for lost time.
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