If it has been more than a month since I’ve last checked my cell phone’s voicemail, the phone will force me to go through all of my saved messages before I can get to new voicemail. It’s a really annoying feature, but it does get me to make sure that my saved messages are really worth keeping since I have to reaffirm the save or delete the message.
As I was going through this process this morning, I realized that the oldest message I’ve kept – a message from a friend that makes me laugh every time I hear it – is from December 2007. This struck me as being really old for voicemail, but maybe other people have kept their gems, too, so I figured I’d ask.
For the record, I’ve also got several messages from 2010 when my now-wife and I first started dating. Generally some combination of funny and “aww!” Good stuff!
Mine’s is from early March 2010. My dad had just returned from vacation and called to say he was back and had a great time and asked if I could stop by the house the following weekend to pick up a souvenir he got me. He dropped dead of a massive heart attack the next day. I don’t listen to it very often anymore, but the fact that I can still hear him say “Love you. Take care.” anytime I choose is a great comfort.
I can relate.
I keep two voice-mail mail messages. The oldest is 9 months old, from my dad just before he died, the other is a month old, from my mom just before she died. They were the best parents I could have hoped for, the best grandparents my kids could have hoped for, my next door neighbors and my best friends. I can’t erase them.
I delete all of mine right after listening to them. Unless I know someone has died before I listen to a message, I’ll have deleted any message before I heard the news. I still don’t think I’d save it, though. Not sure why or why not.
SeaDragonTattoo’s answer is also mine. I doubt that I could save a message if I wanted to since force of habit has me hitting 3 or 7 (land line or cell) to delete the message as soon as I listen to it.
I have an old answering machine that I replaced several years ago. I had saved several messages on it. The oldest was from a friend back in my hometown in West Virginia, on September 11, 2001. He said he was just calling to see if I was OK (I sometimes go to the Pentagon for work).