I feel nostalgia just thinking about that very day I got a phone from my dad, yeah, I got my first phone from dad but it wasn't a new one. Dad had been using the phone for a few years and decided to finally make me have it when he was able to get a new one.
Why didn't he let me use a new one?
Did I complain about getting an old phone as my first?
How happy was I when I got my own (old) phone?
"I was very happy" is an understatement and I had too many reasons to be happy about my little improvement, that is being able to use a phone. Mind you, this phone was a very old model back then lol.
So I turned 9 and dad was getting a little more busy at work so he comes home late. He informs a close neighbour to watch over his kids while he is away but that didn't seem to be enough for him. One day, he had us sit close to him especially myself as his eldest daughter. He talked about us letting him know whatever we needed or is bothering us and not hide anything from him.
Of course, being the obedient kids he has, we agreed with smiles and love in our faces as we were excited to see what he had in the bag he brought home that day. Dad revealed the new phone he bought and gave me the old one with a Sim card in it, well charged and ready to use.
I can still remember how happy my siblings and I were about it, we danced happily all day with the phone in my hand. Dad said words like "It's only for calls when you need something from me and I'm not around, don't misuse it!" I nodded in happiness and my siblings did too.
The next day, dad went to work as usual and the first thing I did with the phone was play the only game that came with it... Snake Game. It's one of the oldest game in my part of the world, there have been updates on it but I'm sure some people like myself still miss playing that particular old one.
Aside playing games, my siblings and I do agree to do prank calls like calling numbers we don't know just to understand that phone numbers do have 11 digits in my country although we stopped doing this when we learnt that it was wrong.
The day I felt the importance of all dad said when he gave me the phone was the day dad didn't return home from work. We were scared and worried until my new but old phone rang and we heard dad's voice from the other end. My siblings and I had tears in our eyes as we talked to dad on the phone. He made us understood why he didn't return home and guided me on what to do as the eldest.
Since that day, I began to guide the phone with so much care not wanting anything to happen to it so we could always have a way to connect to dad when he isn't home. I used that phone for more than 3 years before I got my first newly bought phone (a smarter phone). I think my younger sis began to use the old phone because it stayed in our home for a really long time before it stopped working.
I enjoyed using my first phone even though it was an old one, and I love that my first was gifted by my dad.
This is my entry to the Indiaunited Contest focusing on "What Is Your First Phone?" and you're invited to participate too.