Remember that adventure race I did with Bode where I landed in the dunk and ruined my iPhone? The fun was only beginning. After the race at Copper Mountain, I bought some rice at a little market, plunked my iPhone in it to dry out and prayed for a miracle. After all, I’d only been in the water for a split second and I purchased a heavy-duty case last year after my friend accidentally shattered it taking a group selfie.
That miracle didn’t happen. I’d just charged the phone and left the bottom of the case open just enough to let the water seep in and destroy it. The worst part about it? Bode had cautioned me before the race, “Mom, do you really think that’s a good idea to bring your phone?” and I told him it would be fine and I’d take it out before any water obstacles, not taking into account my early-onset Alzheimer’s to actually remember to do it.
Wasting money on a new iPhone is the last thing we wanted to do so Jamie purchased a refurbished one online, which still cost a minor fortune. It took almost a week to arrive–a week where text messages went unanswered and I took a break from social media. It was actually pretty refreshing (except for knowing I was receiving a lot of texts that I’d never be able to recover).
But setting everything back up was almost as bad as ruining the phone. I’ve had problems with iTunes for years. I somehow setup two different accounts so my apps and music are divided up and I go through stints where I haven’t been able to access either due to password lockouts.
But did I take the time to figure it out? Nooooooo. It was super fun to learn that the iTunes account I’ve used most frequently is not the one connected to my phone so I haven’t done a back-up for over year. And all the pictures I’ve taken, apps I’ve downloaded and music I’ve purchased are gone, gone, gone.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Life was so much more simple before the Internet and smartphones. I thought reloading all my apps and email accounts would be the easy part but it was’t. The process went a lot like this.
Download Facebook app. Can’t remember password. Send new password info to email. Enter new password.
Password no longer works on Desktop. Change password.
Go back to iPhone. New password on desktop for some reason won’t sync even though it’s the same password.
Change password again.
Repeat process 10X for social media accounts (Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
Tear hair out over endless loop of passwords not syncing between iPhone and desktop.
Don’t get me started on my iCloud and continued iTunes problems. None of the passwords I entered were correct so my strategy? Just don’t deal with any of it.
Too bad that’s what got me into this mess in the first place.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 