[Magdalen] Blocking calls??

[Lynn Ronkainen]

A few years ago when my mom was still alive a 'second cousin" thrice removed called me on the phone. I had never heard her name before but cautiously let her fill me in enough that I believed she was genuinely my mom's distant relative. She told me that my mom's location trail dead-ended with me (and rightly so as my mom was in a private home care facility having been disabled by a stroke a few years before).
This new found relative chattily told me that her son was a PI and he had tracked her as far as she could, and neither could believe that 'little Vernetta' had lived so many places.... and she started ticking them off (some in foreign locations).... I was quite astounded. The addresses were true and the corresponding years also true. My mother was widowed at 50 and when my younger sister graduated from  high school and headed off to college, my mom took off to see and live in the world. Literally.  What really 'freaked me out' was that this cousin's son had even uncovered old phone numbers going back to the one I memorized at age 4.  We had a lovely visit over the phone, and I gave her a contact phone number for my mom and I heard they had a wonderful conversation.

One of my first and big take-aways from this was  that I decided that I would never use an old phone number or address for anything that might be able to be hacked. **they**, the big THEY who, probably try these pieces of data first, why not?  It's available free on the internet (I know I've looked up my sister, a frequent mover, and literally all the 20+ places she's lived as an adult were listed.  Meanwhile, when I pick 'secret answers' for password resets I often choose a color related to an item so instead of 'make of my first vehicle?" I choose the color for that 'secret answer' and so on.  It's bad enough that I find myself too often having to reset passwords (who said that learning new things helped slow the mental aging process???!!!)
Lynn

-----Original Message-----
From: Magdalen <magdalen-bounces+houstonklr=gmail.com at herberthouse.org> On Behalf Of Scott Knitter
Sent: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 5:56 PM
To: Magdalen at herberthouse.org
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Blocking calls??

When I was in kindergarten, our address was S67W13882 Hardwicke Place. The fact that I remember this still impresses my mom. Either that or she figures I'm making it up... I'm not!

On Wed, Jan 8, 2020, 5:41 PM ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'd tell you what ours was,
> but I've used it as a PIN.
> It was the first number I ever memorized, and I'm certain I'll 
> remember it until, at the last, it becomes my Rosebud.
> -M
>
> On Wednesday, January 8, 2020, cantor03--- via Magdalen < 
> magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
>
> > Before the advent of dial phones, operators plugged in oral requests.
> >
>