Disconnected?

As of today, I've been in Santa Fe for 2 months.  I'm not sure how time can seem to fly and crawl at the same time, but it feels like I just got here and like home all at once.  I'm settled in my new home and have been exploring in and around Santa Fe and making new friends.  Tonight I decided to write about my decision to let go something I thought I needed to keep.  It's not taking up much space, only about 2x4 inches in a drawer, but the $55 a month it's costing me could be spent on other things, like exploring more of New Mexico.

I didn't realize what a security blanket it had become though until I started thinking about letting go of it.  It's been a part of my life for more than 30 years and a tangible link to my old life in Omaha.  I kept it because I didn't want any of my clients to ever get an "this number has been disconnected" message when they dialed 402-551-8967.  That's the phone number my family got when we first moved to Omaha in 1980.  

I ended up with it when, as a young single-mom I moved into a new home with my parents.  They still had the number and when we set up a new account with Cox at the new place the account was put in my name.  This was still the 90s and I'm not sure I even had a cell phone yet.  But, at some point we got a separate line for my parents and this phone number stayed in my name.  

Six or seven years ago, when I got rid of my LAN line, I was able to transfer this number to my cell phone and maintain this small bit of continuity amidst all the changes that were happening in my life at that time.  Maybe that's why I've hesitated (am still hesitating as I type this) to pull the plug on this part of my past.  In fact I feel really emotional about it at the moment.  I understand that it's really more of a symbolic gesture and just another layer in this process of radically simplifying my life.

So, here goes.  I'm logging on to Sprint's website now... and once again I see that the Universe likes to play games with me because when I tried to log in to cancel this phone line I got this message:

So, I guess that means it's time for me to go to sleep and this is something I can take care of tomorrow.

To be continued...