A couple of months ago my home phone broke.  Not the phone line, the actual phone.  Little problem. Yes I still use a land line.  When I am in the house I prefer it.  I have probably had these phones for 7 or 8 years.  I guess after a while they die.  So one by one that’s what they did until I was down to one, which I kept using until eventually that died too.

I will admit to being a bit of a procrastinator. I kept meaning to go buy a new one but put it off for a while (just an aside – if anyone has left a message on my home phone in the last couple of months, this is why I haven’t called you back!).

The other day I finally bought a phone – woohoo!!

That part wasn’t too difficult – there wasn’t a huge selection so I just chose one.  I actually remember when Howie bought the last one and hooked it up. Seemed pretty simple – plug one wire into the outlet and the other into the phone jack, and do the same with the additional lines (I bought 3).  Well not that simple for me.  It’s just not working. I don’t know if there is something wrong with the phone I bought (which would be my luck) or I’m just doing something wrong (which would not be surprising).  This is an annoying but one of my little problems.

I want to make this perfectly clear – Howie was not handy AT ALL.  He was almost as bad as I am with little problems.  It was hard for him to change a lightbulb! I have no idea if he would be any better with this than I am.

I know that this phone problem is not the worst thing in the world.  I am actually laughing at myself about it. But the reason I am telling this phone story is that things like this are always a reminder that it’s just me here. There isn’t that other person to turn to and say “Ok, can you help me figure out this problem?”

There have been a lot of little problems like these in the past few years.

Some silly – you should see me changing the batteries in my smoke detectors – it’s quite funny!  And others that completely stress me out – like when my air conditioner broke in the middle of the summer or when my roof was leaking.

For the most part these issues all end up getting resolved somehow or another.  Sometimes I will call someone and just scream “help!!!”.  Some things my girls actually can help with (like computer stuff – they are so much more knowledgeable than I am).  Other times I shock myself and actually figure it out on my own.  So in a way these issues have made me a little more independent.  I guess I can look at that as a good thing.

But if anyone out there knows how to fix my phone – please get in touch with me!!!

Stacy Feintuch

Stacy was a stay-at-home mom/part-time preschool teacher whose life was turned upside down in 2011 when her husband passed away suddenly of a heart attack.  She is raising her two fabulous daughters, now ages 18 and 20, who are turning into wonderful young women.  In 2016, she started a blog about her experience as a young widow, The Widow Wears Pink. This led her to write for other publications including Huffington Post, Today.com, Scary Mommy, Grown & Flown, Kveller, Modern Loss, Thought Catalog, and many more. In 2018 she started Living the Second Act with fellow writer Mimi Golub. Today, Stacy and her daughters  are happily living their “new normal” while always keeping her husband’s spirit alive.