It's for you!

My sister would yell this at the top of her lungs to whomever the call was for, after of course screaming "I got it!" every time the phone rang.

The old house phone. Everyone had one. The phone company owned them. And they were practically indestructible.

Let me tell you. There is no feeling of satisfaction quite like that of slamming down the receiver to end a call.

That was powerful!! Today all we can do is aggressively tap the 'end call' button on our smart phones.

The old house phone had permanent cords. These were especially annoying when they restricted your movements. But there could also be something comforting about them.

Except...

When a burglar broke in. Because, through television, we all knew that the first thing a burglar would do is cut the phone line - or yank it out of the wall. Then you were in trouble because that cord could now be used to strangle you.

The old house phone. All those lines seemed to connect us. Your handset was wired to the base, which was wired to the wall, through which the wires ran to the pole. The poles connected the wires from your house the houses of all those other phones. Incredible now to think of it.

This is the operator speaking, how may I connect your call.