Thursday, November 22, 2001
Considerations - To MLDL
Again, voice mail applies to this phone so you will never get a busy signal. The reason I finally capitulated to getting voice mail about six months ago is that I discovered that my mother was forgetting how to operate our answering machines and accidentally erasing messages before I got to them. She doesn't understand voice mail so there is no chance of her fiddling with it. I'm not even sure she realizes we have it. Speaking of which, if you are trying to reach me and get my mother when I'm not home, be assured that if you leave a message with her, even as simple as "tell her I called" I will either not get the message or she will tell me someone called who didn't, or she will say, "Someone called you, I think it was a [choose one] man/woman (which isn't always correct, either) and they wanted you to call back. I figured you'd know who it was."
Since I know her hearing continues to fade, which not only doesn't bother her but in some ways she prefers it, I notice as her impairment increases so does my gratitude for this impairment. Most of the time now she doesn't hear the phone. As that continues, my job of managing the business of her life eases.
Luckily, she gets a kick out of me 'being' her business self. "I've never had such an interesting reputation," she tells me regularly as I negotiate her life for her. Which is true. She has never been much for wrangling with people even when it's necessary, although, being a natural trader, she can put up a good show even though, when it comes to something other than getting a good price in an open market, she backs down. As well, she has no more of a gift for words than average, so, by default, I've boosted (and colorized, quite a bit) her reputation in the world.
Since I know her hearing continues to fade, which not only doesn't bother her but in some ways she prefers it, I notice as her impairment increases so does my gratitude for this impairment. Most of the time now she doesn't hear the phone. As that continues, my job of managing the business of her life eases.
Luckily, she gets a kick out of me 'being' her business self. "I've never had such an interesting reputation," she tells me regularly as I negotiate her life for her. Which is true. She has never been much for wrangling with people even when it's necessary, although, being a natural trader, she can put up a good show even though, when it comes to something other than getting a good price in an open market, she backs down. As well, she has no more of a gift for words than average, so, by default, I've boosted (and colorized, quite a bit) her reputation in the world.
