My family fears voicemail

My entire family fears voice mail, and I will admit that does include me.

Instead of leaving a message, we hang up, usually within seconds of hearing a third ring. When I am the recipient of these calls, 9 times out of 10, I tend to just come across the portable phone in time to hear a dial tone.

It doesn't end here. With the dawn of the cell phone, the caller can go through the entire list of phone numbers and dial the next number in under a few seconds.

Perhaps I could beg my family to count to 30 before they dial the next number so I can find whichever phone they have not called before it starts ringing.

Maybe I just need a third and fourth phone. This way I can get all my cardio exercise in on the mad-dash to find the ringing phone under the downstairs couch cushion after I've crashed down the stairs from my office only to hear the cell phone ring upstairs in my purse. Two more phone numbers could really make this exercise exciting.