Pockets

"Did you get my text message?" Walt asked, when he called this evening. He had sent a message earlier in the day letting me know that his brother was being released from the hospital, word we had all been very eager to hear.

I had to explain that my cell phone was in my purse -- and, worse, it was still on "vibrate" from the night before, when we had been at a play -- so I hadn't heard the alert.

It made me realize, again, that I'm having a big problem with my cell phone.

It's pockets.

I don't have any.

It didn't really matter when I first got my phone. There were few people who even knew the number and even fewer who ever called it. But then text messaging entered my life, Jeri and Ned got cell phones with tex messaging and I started getting more calls.

Then there are those friends who have given up land lines and only have cell phones now. They always have their cell phone with them and frequently call my cell instead of our house phone. My mother half the time calls on my cell phone and half the time on my regular phone.

I don't know what to do with the phone.

When almost nobody called me, it was enough to keep it in my purse, but once I started texting hot and heavy with Jeri, I tried to keep it near me. But it always seemed to be in the room where I wasn't.

That's a problem that could be solved with pockets.

My friend Char only has a cell phone. She also has pockets. When her cell phone rings, it's right there in her pocket.

My wardrobe consists of four pairs of black sweat pants without pockets, one pair of "dress" velveteen pants without pockets and one pair of leisure pants--with pockets. But you can't wear the same pair of pants all the time.

I bought a pouch to keep the cell phone in. It has a nice cord that will allow me to wear it around my neck, but that feels stupid. I keep thinking about the pouch of foul smelling herbs that Minnie Castevet (Ruth Gordon) made for Rosemary (Mia Farrow) in Rosemary's Baby. It's also a garish color that doesn't really go with anything--the only one they had when I went looking for pouches.

The only value to the pouch is that the cord is long enough that it makes it eas(ier) to find in my purse...assuming I hear the thing ring in time.

It also has a tab on the back, which allows you to attach to a belt.

But there's that old sweat pants thing again--no belt. No belt loops.

Sometimes I carry the phone around in my hand, but I'm such a klutz that I know one day I'm going to drop it in the toilet if I do that.

So I don't know where to carry my cell phone so I can be sure not to miss those important calls that come every few days or so.

OK--so it's not a huge problem...but I'm still trying to find a work-around...or a source of sweat pants that come with pockets and don't cost more than $20 a pair.

I'm not that hard to please.