For all of those people who own or use a cellular phone on a regular basis, here is a little pop quiz:

Question No. 1) Think of the person you call most often on your cell phone.

Now recite that person's entire phone number and No. 2 on speed dial doesn't count.

O.K. Maybe you got that one correct because it is your best friend from grade school and you have called the number more times than you have tied your shoes.

Question No. 2) Think of a person you don't call very often but who is among your contact list on your cell phone. Once again, recite that person's entire phone number and scrolling through your contact list doesn't count.

A lot of people can't remember those rarely called numbers. It's similar to when people ask for your phone number and you have a hard time recalling it.

After all, you don't call yourself very often.

Since nearly everyone has a cellular phone these days (or it just seems that way), we have lost our ability to memorize phone numbers. We rely on pushing one button to call those people we speak to regularly. And we rely on the contact list to call everyone else.

While this may be handy and save time, this practice can cause a bigger headache -- when the phone is lost or misplaced.

I went through the trauma of losing my cellular phone and suddenly found myself in a frantic state of mind. I couldn't call anyone; no one could call me; I didn't know anyone's phone number anymore because I had used speed dial so often.

In ordinary times, I would mock anyone who was that attached to their cellular phone. Since it was lost in the midst of a family emergency and my cell phone was the sole means of contact, the loss took on more importance.

Our reliance on cell phones has escalated extraordinarily quickly. After all, it has only been in the last five or 10 years that cellular phones have become so common place that everyone, even elementary students, owns a cell phone. Prior to their arrival, we got by with -- aghast -- land lines. We had to be home for someone to reach us. When we went on vacation, we were unreachable, an unthinkable thought now.

For emergencies, we relied on pay phones which were common place. Now, phone booths are being placed in museums and cell towers hardly gain a second notice on the horizon.

The saturation of cellular phones has also changed personalities.

Characteristics, which once would have been considered odd, are now common place.

Picture someone sitting alone at a table. Years ago, she would have been reading a newspaper or flipping through a book. Now, her hands are flailing through the air in wild hand gestures as she talks on the phone.

Imagine someone walking down the street. A decade ago, he would have quietly walked down the sidewalk, keeping to himself. Now, it looks like he's talking to himself and yet no one thinks he's crazy.

I'm still debating how my cellular phone was "lost." It either fell into a garbage can and is now ringing at the bottom of the landfill or I laid it down on a bench and another person came by, picked it up and "forgot" to turn it into the lost-and-found.

I have given up on finding my cell phone because they are so common. If your cell phone is stolen, it is hard to pick it out in the crowd. Most cell phones look alike and nearly everyone has one attached to their ear. I'm not going to accost everyone with a cell phone on my mad search. There aren't enough hours in the day.

-- Ronda Graff has replaced her lost cell phone with an out-of-date cell phone she had relinquished to her two-year-old as a toy. He's upset that she's taken it back. He was expecting a call.