A young man stood in a long line to order his lunch in a popular restaurant. He had been waiting for fifteen minutes and his lunch break from work wasn’t very long.

He crossed his arms impatiently when he heard someone say, “Whoops!”

The woman behind him had dropped the contents of her purse onto the floor. Her makeup, phone, and other small objects created lots of noise.

The man turned around and saw the beautiful young woman’s face turn a bright shade of red. Without even thinking, he bent down to help gather all of her possessions. He picked up her blue phone carefully and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” the woman said. Her hair was a mess of red curls, her eyes were a deep blue like the ocean, and her hat was slipping off of her head. She was around his age and amazingly attractive. Her eyes searched him over and smiled.

“I don’t think your phone is broken,” the man said not taking his eyes off of her.

“Thank goodness. This is the newest model.”

Everyone else in the restaurant was on their phones. Most were holding the Gravity7 phone released two weeks ago. None of them even glanced at the two collecting the woman’s possessions.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Her red face started to fade. “Samantha,” she said brightly. “But you can call me Sam.”

“Nice to meet you, Sam. I’m Nathan.”

“Are you gonna order something?” a male cashier asked irritably from behind the counter. He glared at the two like they had ruined his entire day.

“Of course,” Nathan said. He stood up, finally taking his eyes off of Sam. He ordered a sandwich and reached for his wallet.

“Let me pay,” Sam offered. “In return for your help.”

Before he could deny, the cashier gladly took Sam’s money.

Nathan grinned at the stranger. “Since you paid, I think the least I could do is sit by you,” he said quickly. “If that’s not a problem.”

Her grin widened and she gladly agreed.

The two ate their lunch together. Instead of their conversation being dull and short like Nathan feared, they talked nonstop. Both enjoyed the same genre of music and were studying at the same college a mile away.

Nathan couldn’t believe how easygoing Sam was. He had struck out with every girl he had ever dated in his life. She talked so casually and her voice was soft but she didn’t sugarcoat reality.

They sat in the restaurant for over an hour until Nathan realized he was thirty minutes over his lunch break.

“I have to get back to work,” he rushed. ”But I did have a nice time with you. Could I possibly see you again?”

“Why not?” she joked with a shrug. “I’d love to.” She quickly scribbled down her phone number. “Here’s my number. See you later, Nathan.”


The two did see each other again, and again, and again. They became a couple two weeks after their fortunate meeting at the restaurant. Sam and Nathan dated for a year until Nathan proposed at the same restaurant.

After their marriage, Nathan and Sam’s family grew when their son, Theo, was born. Both tried to be the best parents possible to Theo and his younger sister, Emily.

The brother and sister learned from their parents and grew up to be intelligent people. They left for college at eighteen and the house was just for Sam and Nathan again.

One afternoon, two months before Theo was supposed to be married, the two were sitting in the living room. Nathan was sitting in his lucky chair watching television. The chair was lucky because he had been sitting in it when his favorite basketball team won the championship. Sam was reading her favorite book for the thousandth time.

Sam suddenly closed the book. Her face was serious.

“What is it, dear?” Nathan asked. He turned down the volume on the TV.

“I was just thinking,” she said vaguely.

“Really?” he joked. “What’s that like?”

She rolled her eyes and her usual bright smile returned. “I was thinking about when we met twenty two years ago.”

“Why, honey?”

“I’m really glad I was clumsy enough to drop my purse. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Nathan grinned. It was rare for Sam to be emotional. Sometimes he was the more emotional one in the marriage.

Nathan sat next to her and took her hand. “Me too.”



But that never happened.

Nathan and Sam never exchanged those words after two decades of memories. They never had two wonderful children and Nathan never proposed at that restaurant when they first met because the two never ate together.

Sam did drop her purse on that day but Nathan didn’t help her pick up her stuff. He had pulled out his phone out of impatience for waiting so long.

When her stuff fell, Nathan only glared at her out of his own irritation. He ignored the red haired woman and continued to beat his high score on his newly downloaded app.

Sam and Nathan never learned each other’s names, Sam never paid for Nathan’s lunch, and Nathan never received Sam’s number.

Their paths never crossed because of a device created by a greedy company to add millions of dollars to their already billion dollar organization. Technology may be amazing but technology can’t cure loneliness. Technology can’t create a beautiful bride or a handsome groom. It doesn’t give anyone two children to teach, love, and let go. Technology is nothing but a way to pass the time. Technology isn’t always evil but it’s not something anyone is supposed to revolve their life around.

Life isn’t meant to be time staring at a screen and chatting with strangers you’ve never met before.

Life is meant to be lived.

Here’s a helpful hint to not become a victim of technology: Stop reading this.