Nows and Forevers

This year I hit a new record: This is the longest I have had the same telephone number. Fifteen years.

That’s a big deal. I have never had the same number for more than four years, at least since I was 10 years old and living with my parents. Why? I have moved around so many times (a whole other story) that it’s only been in the last 15 years that I’ve been able hold on to the same one.

I’ve been in the 203, 619, 714, 860, 207, 845, 917, 212, 347, 718, 724 and 304 area codes. I’ve held multiple numbers in some of them — I lived in Connecticut and New York for more than half my life — but I bet that I couldn’t remember more than two of my former numbers, landline or mobile.

I got a new mobile number when I got my first iPhone, and even though I’ve moved to two states since then, I’ve kept the phone number. I’m glad I did, because even though people wonder about why I still have a New York phone number, I am happy that I do. It keeps me grounded to my past. And it’s easier to remember.