When I was a young kid we lived a block from the telephone company.

They had a big glass window in the front where I used to stand and watch the telephone operators at work.

I could hear them saying “Number Please,” over and over.

The women sat in long rows working with what was probably cable wires attached to the switchboard.

It was fascinating to watch them plug into the switchboard then quickly connect the next call.

How many of you can possibly remember when each of our phone calls required an operator to connect us?

I remember being told those jobs as a telephone operator were greatly sought after because a woman could make much more money working for the phone company than she could make in other jobs.

As a young kid I thought there was something glamorous about being a telephone operator. I thought I might like to try it someday.

By the time I graduated from high school there were no more long banks of operators needed to connect each call.

Each home had its own phone. If we wanted to call someone we simply made our own calls.

How many of you remember rotary phones and how many of you remember when we thought we had great technology when our phones then had a dial tone and no rotary dial?

My newspaper job often involved traveling to interviews in areas I didn’t know.

Since it was before the days when everyone had a cellphone I had to rely on old fashioned technology - paper and pen. I wrote down directions and eventually found where I was supposed to be.

Except for the time when I was lucky to escape alive.

I was diligently following instructions that said to go out of town and take the first road to right. I did exactly that but the gravel road kept getting bumpier. It just didn’t feel right.

God and all his angels and saints must have been there watching over me because when I stopped the car to regroup I saw I was at the edge of a deep strip mine. Had I gone another foot I might never have been found.

I didn’t have a cellphone but I did have what was our precursor to a cell phone - the CB radio my husband and I used. He answered quickly, as he always did, and calmed me down so I could back out of there.

With experiences like that, and with all the traveling I had to do for my job, one would think I would have had a cellphone when they first came out. Not true.

I don’t know what year I finally bought one but I do know it seemed like every man, woman and teenager had one before I did.

I have always appreciated the safety factor of having a cell phone. I especially appreciated it the night a car started following me in a remote section of the county. I had taken one wrong turn after having dinner at a friend’s county home.

No matter how many crazy turns I made the guy behind me kept following.

I used my cellphone to call my friend. She stayed on the line while helping me find my way home.

Back then I never foresaw people would begin to use their cellphones as their social outlet. Between their Internet connection, Facebook and their cell phone their social dance card is filled.

When people began dropping their landlines and only using a cell phone I said I would never do it. Somehow it seemed safer to have a landline backup.

I would still have a landline except the decision was taken out of my hands when the hurricane and rebuilding took down all my connections.

While there are many benefits to having a cell phone there are some draw backs. With cell phones we are supposed to be reachable 24/7.

When I go to church I turn off my cell phone and sometimes don’t remember to turn it back on right away. My husband had surgery early the next morning so my cell phone was off again.

My daughter Maria panicked when she couldn’t reach me. I got a lecture about “not scaring her like that.”

Then my favorite neighbor chastised me for not answering his message as soon as he sent it.

“You have to learn to keep your cell phone within reach,” he said.

It made me miss my good old landline that just sat there faithfully, never missing a call.

There are some telephone technology trends that are complicating my life and driving me a bit crazy.

As director of our women’s group I have the responsibility of lining up a speaker and reader for our monthly meetings. It used to take 10 minutes. Now it takes days, sometimes weeks because no one answers their telephone.

“Of course not! No one answers the phone any more unless they recognize the number,” said one woman.

Others agreed. They have a program that doesn’t even let their phone ring if the number calling isn’t on their contact list.

No wonder I can’t reach anyone.

When I was just a little girl watching the telephone workers connect calls never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined what was ahead.

Where will we go from here?

I can’t even imagine.

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net