The potential to turn into a long drawn out novel is pretty big here. I could go in several directions and end up 100 miles away from the point of all this. I make no promises about my ability to steer straight and stay on point.

Last year when Dylen turned 6, she asked for a phone. Yes, a cell phone. Rhyen was 6 when she got her first phone, so it was difficult for me to say no and tell Dylen she couldn’t have one. When I told her that’s what she was getting, the deal was that she could go to Best Buy and pick it out herself. Initially I had no plans to get her a smartphone since Rhyen started off with just a flip phone (basic calling and texting). The problem was, you could get a smartphone for the same price as a flip phone, and in some cases for free. Sure, you have to have data, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a small cost in the development of her technological experience. Dylen walked out of there that day with an HTC Inspire. Android. I was afraid this would happen. I wasn’t about to spend $200 on an iPhone for a 6 year old. She got the lowest data plan through AT&T and everything else was included on the family plan (minutes, text, mobile to mobile).

It took all of about 24 hours for me to realize what happened. Dylen was the unlucky inheritor of a phone number that belonged to “Heather Everett”. You may be asking “Who is Heather Everett?” Well…after 6 months of having her old phone number, we know what bills she hasn’t paid, she owes taxes from last year (I’m assuming), I know what school her kids go to, I know that her daughter is in counseling, I know that she’s a democrat and I know that she’s clearly disorganized for not having told most of her friends that she changed her number.

For awhile, Dylen dealt with the random calls. Then she started handing the phone to me. I told the bill collectors and the friends and telemarketers that this was not Heather Everett. I thought that by having a little girl say her own voice mail greeting, people would get the hint. I told others that they were to delete this number. I told telemarketers to remove the phone number. I told debt collecting mongrols that this was NOT HEATHER EVERETT. The calls continued to come.

This morning, while Rhyen sat in the car, Dylen and I went into the AT&T store to finally change the number. When the Glenn (the AT&T representative) asked me which number I wanted to change, I gave them the -8880 number. Dylen picked out her new number, he restarted the phone and at the moment when I saw a known bill collector number come across the screen, my face immediately frowned. I realized my mistake. I gave him Rhyen’s phone number. A rush of scenarios played through my mind as to how I could spin this, but the reality was…I messed up. At this point, there was literally nothing you could do to get that number back (or at least the guy told me).

As Glenn and Dylen worked out changing HER number, I took the walk of shame out to the car to deliver the bad news. Rhyen looked at me with disgust, snarling her lip. I could tell she was not happy. She simply said “There are so many things I want to say, but I’m going to just keep my mouth shut.” What I’d like to believe is that while in her mind, this was an inconvenience, the truth is, she’s not paying for the phone (yet) and really has no right to be upset about it. Still…I felt bad that she’d have to have all of her friends change her number in their phones.

We’ll all laugh about it tomorrow.