My mom decided to give up her landline and use her cell phone exclusively to rid herself of solicitor calls she gets randomly throughout the day. The constant ringing puts her on edge. I get that. I know a lot of people are going that way, but I still have my landline. At first I kept it because the kids were young and didn’t have cell phones, and I wanted them to be safe when I left them home alone. Now I keep it because it always stays connected during power outages. It’s with a phone carrier, not a TV or internet carrier.

My understanding is that the cable used by landline exclusive companies is underground. So unless something hits the wire coming into my house, it usually stays working. Cell phone towers drop during power outages, cell phones need to be charged. I can empty my cell phone battery with one short day without power just playing games to pass the time.

Another reason I haven’t given up my home phone is I don’t want all solicitors to get a hold of my cell phone number. It’s bad enough with the few who get through, in spite of all the “do not call” lists I get my numbers on. Because, guess what? No matter how much we trust companies to keep our phone numbers to themselves, no one survives, not even the children.

Further, I like having a community phone. My daughters are old enough that all their personal calls, whether friends or appointments, do go to their own cell phones. But if they want to give out a phone number that someone would always be available to answer, they can use our home phone number.

It’s also the number most of our household accounts are connected to. I tried to change my email account once and it was a nightmare to remember every place and person I had given it to. I ended up giving up, though because of my attempts, I have four email accounts and I can’t keep track of any of them. I can’t imagine trying to transfer my home number to my cell phone, I’m sure more people and companies have my phone number than my email.

Then there’s the whole emergency calling issue. I don’t know where the technology is with that, because I’ve heard emergency call centers aren’t able to automatically connect to cell phones. I’m no expert, so don’t quote me on that. I’m sure GPS capabilities help a lot these days. Still, it’s another reason I hang on to my landline.

So more power to my mother for taking the leap. Though, quiet honestly, a lot of the entities she’s given her landline to, probably have my home number as back up. So if they can’t find her, they’ll track me down instead. I’ll probably be here when they do. I’ve lived in this house more than three times as long as my family lived anywhere when I was growing up. My parents often changed careers, moving with each one. Chasing the dream, I guess.

My girlfriend from Florida brings me plants from her garden every summer. They are cuttings from her mother’s garden. She passed away a few years ago. She wants me to propagate them in my yard so that when she moves back to Washington someday, she won’t lose the plants. I asked her, “What if I decide to pack everything in, sell the house, live in the RV, and travel around the US?” She replied, “Yeah, like that will happen. Anyway, I’m bringing more plants this summer.”

I and the landline are deeply planted.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. You can read more of her writing on her website livingwithgleigh.com, on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh by Gretchen Leigh.” Her column is available every week at maplevalleyreporter.com under the Life section.