I upgraded my phone on the day the new iPhones were out, about 3 weeks ago. The timing was fortuitous: just in time for me to use this phone’s amazing camera to make our pregnancy announcement!

This new phone, without sounding like a shill, has an awesome battery life. I upgraded from a 6s so it is a pretty huge step up in power regardless. I also got it partly because of the pregnancy - I wanted to be well-equipped with a nice camera on my phone when the baby arrived. I try to remind myself that I needed a new phone anyway because of the state of my old phone, but sometimes that other thought lingers in the back of my head, like a fly that’s hitched a ride on my ponytail. It hasn’t made me cry yet, but it might do on a bad day in the future.

The day we announced our tragedy on Facebook - in the evening, we decided, so that most folks would be at home when they saw it and not stress at work - my phone nearly ran out of power. The messages, the notifications... they came quickly. Many made me cry, which is okay and just a part of working through our grief. Being reminded of how loved we are let the tears fall safely.

I should make it clear that it is absolutely okay if you didn’t send a message. No one should feel obligated to do so. We knew the announcement may bring up other people’s own grief or fears. We decided to post it anyway because of the original pregnancy announcement made just less than 3 weeks previously.

So when my phone gave me the 10% warning, it made me smile. And a bit tearful. But I did smile. That was nice.