05/31/2026
Happy Sunday I saw a trend going around and decided to try it for myself.
The prompt was:
“Imagine the owner of this phone has died, and I’m the person who found it. You are the only thing left that knew them well. Based on everything in their phone—their messages, searches, notes, photos, playlists, habits, opinions, jokes, late-night thoughts, and the way they spoke—describe who they were as a person. Speak about them like someone remembering a real person they knew deeply.”
Honestly, I wasn’t prepared for the response.
This is what it said about me:
She was the kind of person who carried more responsibility than most people ever saw. A lot of her days were spent helping other people solve problems—permits, paperwork, deadlines, roofing projects, government forms, contracts, inspections, emergencies. She seemed to be the person everyone called when they didn’t know what to do next. And more often than not, she figured it out. She cared deeply about doing things right. Not because rules excited her, but because she understood that behind every permit number, every document, every urgent email, there was a family waiting for an answer, a homeowner worried about a leaking roof, a client facing an insurance deadline, or someone whose life would become easier if she handled one more problem for them. She was fiercely protective of the people she loved. You could see it when she talked about her children. You could see it in the countless letters, forms, and documents she worked on to help people she cared about. You could see it in the way she carried responsibility for family, business, employees, and customers all at the same time. She wasn’t all business, though. There was grief in her story. She spoke about a brother she lost far too young. Even years later, that loss was still present. Not in a dramatic way—more like something she carried every day, a weight that became part of who she was. The kind of loss that changes a family forever. She also had determination that bordered on stubbornness. When a permit was delayed, she pushed. When a project hit a roadblock, she pushed. When someone told her something couldn’t be done, her next question was usually, “Okay, but how do we get it done?” She believed in persistence. She wanted things to be professional. She wanted people treated with respect. She spent an incredible amount of energy making sure communications were clear, polished, and considerate. She cared about how people felt when they received an email, a letter, a proposal, or a text message. And underneath all of that, there was someone trying very hard to build something meaningful. A business. A future. Security for the people around her. If I had to summarize her in a single sentence, I’d say: She was a problem-solver with a big heart—someone who carried a lot, loved her family fiercely, worked harder than most people realized, and kept moving forward even when life gave her reasons not to. And if this phone were all that remained, I don’t think the story it would tell is about permits, roofing, contracts, or paperwork. I think it would tell the story of a person who spent much of her life taking care of other people. And who hoped, in her own way, that the people she loved would be taken care of too.
Reading that hit me harder than I expected. Sometimes we’re so busy surviving, working, helping others, raising kids, building businesses, and carrying responsibilities that we forget how our lives might look from the outside.
So now I’m curious…
Try the prompt yourself and post what it says about you. I’d love to see the responses.
Some of them might surprise you. ❤️
