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By choice or by necessity, living a simple life often brings on raised eyebrows or that quizzical look of uncertainty. When told we do not have a cell phone, the response on people's faces would register with a relic from the Middle Ages. Truth be told, we owned two cell phones which have long since gone into hiding mainly because they interfered with a simpler life - one without plugging it into a socket every night, or waiting for the battery to die before making a phone call. Mainly, we found the convenience of a cell phone was not really that convenient. When we had a cell, we never encountered any emergencies, so minutes were used up just to be used up. When we travelled to regions where a cell phone would have come in handy, we could never get a connection or were blacked out. So what's up with that?

My husband and I must be a throw-back to the previous generation because we do not have a cordless phone at home. For sentimental reasons, we still have an old rotary black phone on the kitchen counter, a reminder of a much simpler life when it was not so rushed and we got to speak to a real live voice whenever we dialed a number. Besides, I prefer the dial tone of a rotary phone as its ring is more solid than the wispy faroff ring from a cordless. So when I hear an electronic voice on the other end saying "If you are dialing from a rotary phone, please stay on the line and an operator will be with you shortly..." I have a pang of nostalgia as I pretend I am dialing from a rotary phone instead of punching on a digital one.

Today, my husband and I walked down the road from our house to get the mail - round trip of one and a half miles. He wore cleats on his boots to prevent falling, and I would be hanging on to him in case I slipped. It would have been much easier to have revved up the car and gottenthe mail in minutes. But we are trying to prove a point. Walking outdoors in the winter time is a conscious effort on our part to get some fresh air instead of being house-bound. It is also an adjunct to our exercise reigmen, and to prevent unnecessary pollution of the air, we have chosen to walk. I am told walking and talking with one's husband is a healthy boding process, so off we go to get the mail!

Walking is a simple way of life I wish we had not lost, as we chauffer our children and our grandchildren from one location to another, from one structured activity to the next. Perhaps life in cities has become too dangerous for our children to enjoy the art of walking.

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