Sometimes it is hard to believe that Reston is on the same planet that we inhabit. As I have been relaxing while waiting for my father's day calls, I have noticed that Reston is a balmy 75 degrees Fahrenheit this Sunday.
That pales in comparison to the 93 degrees that we have recorded here on the Carolina coast.
Our heat has been great for some vegetables like tomatoes.
The lack of northern warmth would not be so unusual except it seems to be very persistent this year. From Northern Virginia north seems to be having a hard time with summer. We have two grown children in Reston.
One of our children has been complaining that her flowers need sunshine. At the same time we have been hearing warnings to stay inside between 11 AM and 4 PM in order to miss the worst of the sun and heat.
As of four o'clock this afternoon all three of my grown children have made their father's day calls. We ended up with a voice mail from one since she underestimated the time it takes us to go from church to home. Still I appreciate hearing from our children on father's day. Most of our other calls are initiated from our end.
Sometimes I think the old fashioned phone is becoming a lot art.
I went away to military school at the age fourteen. I got in the habit of calling home either Saturday or Sunday of each week. When my wife and I moved to Canada, we kept up the tradition.
There has been a subtle change over the years, and Reston being the technological leading edge that it is, has been at the fore front.
We used to call a place and talk to anyone that picked up the line. Now it is more typical to call a cell phone with pretty good odds of talking to one specific person. I would guess a high percentage of Reston homes might only have cell phones.
Sometimes a phone call required some subtle negotiations to get to the right person.
With cell phones taking over homes, a little of the mystery is gone.
It is a little different down here at the beach. Cell phone coverage can have a few holes, but even here people are more and more dependent on their cell phones. At our office, it is very rare for anyone to be put through to voice mail. Mostly we redirect people to cell phones.
Of course if someone has both your cellphone and land line phone numbers, use of the land line number can be a gamble on not getting you. Whereas a cell phone call might get someone almost all the time assuming the person carries the phone.
We recently switched our land line to an Internet one through our cable company. Now caller ID is on our television screen.
You can depend on technology to continue to change us in subtle ways while the weather continues to do what it pleases.
Tonight after the worst of the heat, we will be sneaking over to the beach again like we did last night. It is a way to relax and get out of the heat, but I still have my cell phone in my pocket even when I am fishing in the surf.
