Baby Don't Forget My Number

There was a boy I had a crush on in grade school and I still remember his phone number - 339-4840. My own phone number had a 592 prefix, and I secretly pined for a 339 one because I thought it would bring us closer and he would like me more. I could see the roof of his house from my bedroom window.

This is the same boy who regularly said, "Carrie is so very ... ugly" ala those bad Keri lotion commercials that essentially ruined my name and wiped out any hope of popularity I had in elementary school. He gave me two cool pencils in fifth grade -- I like to think he secretly liked me, too.

Today I realized that's the only phone number I know. I was filling out Parker's enrollment forms for school and when it asked for a list of names and numbers of people allowed to her up in an emergency, I could only come up with my speed dial numbers: Jody, 2. Becker, 6. Mom, 3. These are some of my closest people and I have no idea what their phone numbers are. I don't know their prefixes or area codes or what their numbers would spell out if you figured it out from the letters on the buttons. My fifth-grade crush's was HUG-0, but Joe is No. 1 on my speed dial, so there.