It's my fourth day without a cell phone. We checked online, and the last call that was made from that phone was on Friday, January 27th, 2012, at four pm. I know where I was, and I went back to look there. Twice. Nope. It's gone.

So what is "it"? What did I lose? um. well, if you know me, I probably lost your phone number(s). It wasn't a smart phone, so I didn't lose much other data. No one would steal that phone. It was a ghetto, used motorola flip phone.

But my teenage kids did lose something when that phone disappeared. Like the ability to text me to change plans every other second. Yesterday, walking to the elementary school our youngest kid attends, with the dog on the leash, I noticed that I felt a little freer. I noticed that it was a beautiful day, that I had at least a half hour to spend in the sunshine, enjoying my dog's happily waving tail, and I also noticed, with a grin, that there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. I would not be summoned to the high school because our 15 year-old daughter had a lot of books and didn't want to walk home. I would not be notified that our 17 year-old son wanted me to transfer money into his bank account because once again he'd used more than his allotted gas this month. I wouldn't have to argue with anyone about anything. I could just walk the dog to school.

I lost my phone. This could simplify my life!

I last used it to coordinate with my husband to meet him at the lacrosse field for our 7 year-old's first Friday Night Lights on my way back from picking up not only the helmet, pads and cup he needed but also our 20 year-old, who was coming in on the ferry to meet one of her uncles for the first time--visiting from British Columbia-- and her other uncle and aunt, who were visiting from Arizona on their way back to Florida. Today, while investigating i Phones for the 20 year-old, who is studying abroad in Hong Kong next year, I was preoccupied with the fact that that 4 pm coordination with my husband, in the Prius, with its awesome built-in bluetooth function, was the last time I used my ghetto used Motorola phone. That's right, I lost my phone.

I spent the whole day, in between trips to the evil Verizon store and my favorite independent phone dealer downtown, with lunch at a Vietnamese place in between, wondering how I could've done it. I went back to the parking lot by the lacrosse field, where I'd fumbled through bags of gear to suit up our son before his first official LAX experience. I walked the field. Nothing. Driving home from said evil Verizon store, where the guy tried to sell me everything he could, I began to realize that I didn't really know what our 15 year-old was doing every single minute that day, though I knew she was shopping for a dress for the King of Hearts dance. Our 17 year-old son is out of town filming for his internship, three hours away. How's his day going? Who knows? Was my husband back home yet with his two brothers, his nephew and our seven year-old? Had they eaten? Who knew? All I knew was that my 20 year-old was completely connected now with her new i Phone, and I was driving down the road with my sister-in-law.

Nice.

Christmas is over, and I was cleaning off my desktop. Somebody decided to put a picture of my four kids and one of their friends posing with Goofy at Disneyland on my main screen, so it's really hard to figure out what all of those documents and folders are, making my life feel even more cluttered than usual. So there I was, cleaning up my desktop, and I came across "Mom's Christmas List.docx". I wrote it in response to my kids' lists. See, this year, I decided that we would have an experience (Camping in our Airstream by Disneyland) instead of LOOT. The middle two kids were devastated when they heard the plan. I also told everyone that I was no longer accepting Christmas lists. Did they insist on trying to hand me these compositions of greed (or hope, if you're feeling generous)? Yes they did! So I composed one myself. Then I sent it to my 20 year-old daughter at college. She passed it on to her friends. Apparently, it was funny to them, but I meant it. Here it is:

MOM'S CHRISTMAS LIST 2011

ONE volunteer HELPER EVERY DAY for any task, no matter how small

TWO hugs, UNREQUESTED, per week

THREE animals fed, as they like it, whenever

FOUR counters wiped per week

FIVE smiles per week, for no reason

SIX shoes put away where they belong, now and then

SEVEN half-days of minor help per month, no pay, when you could be hanging out with friends. Heck, bring your friends over to help too!

EIGHT instances of free, no-hassle table cleaning per month, total, by whomever

NINE windows wiped, whenever

TEN minutes of picking up around the house when you could be on Facebook

ELEVEN moments of silence, instead of an angry or snide remark, or just share a part of your day with me

TWELVE cheerful days of time off for me, per year, just because you're grateful for all I do for the family

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Preparing for the 6th Annual Wine Country Rowing Classic, on October 23, 2011. Bringing 600+ athletes to Petaluma. See it here! http://northbayrowing.org/WCRC-6

Wine Country Rowing Classic on Sunday October 3rd will direct people's attention to the beauty and importance of SP. Please help get the word out!

The 5th Annual Wine Country Rowing Classic brings spectators out to Shollenberger Park to view a 5,000-meter race. This event is free and open to the public. This year it is on Sunday, October 3rd, from about 8 am till 3 pm. North Bay Rowing Club hosts this event, and invites the public in an effort to direct Petalumans' vision to this magnificent resource and its environs. The viewing platform at Shollenberger Park is the best place to see a great stretch of the race, and we hope those who enjoy the park will help get the word out. On this day, you can spot a wide variety of birds AND boats! For more information, see http://www.northbayrowing.org/node/351