"I've got a couple of busy weeks ahead of me."
This is what my father said to me at the start of Thanksgiving week. He is already very active, but he was right; he did have a lot going on.
Since I knew that he would be traveling with my sister and her family over the holiday weekend, I wanted to make sure that he and I got our weekly chat in before they left town. Furthermore, we needed to coordinate when we could have our Thanksgiving skype call as a family, particularly with my Grandmother present.
My Grandmother recently moved into her new apartment in her living community, but due to space constraints, her computer was not set up, thus limiting our video contact with one another. Her computer is probably a good 15 years old, and really used only for making greeting cards for her friends or for skyping with me or my sister (when she was still living abroad). With Lynne stateside, I am the only person that Grandmommy would be skyping with.
My sister, Dad, and I have all collectively explored solutions for how we best maintain regular video conferencing with Grandmommy, and we ultimately have elected (at least for the interim) to use whatsapp video. This works OK, but not without a couple of hiccups.
The hiccups came to light almost 2 hours after my last post, when I was hanging out in the pub. The family had gathered for a Thanksgiving dinner the day BEFORE Thanksgiving, due to the travel plans. So, I stood outside the pub and chatted with my Grandmother and her technical support team: my sister, nephew, brother in law, and father. The problem with using the mobile phone is that there is a bit of a lag in the audio. Combine this with me standing outside on the street and the subsequent background noise, and it becomes rather difficult to hear. Throw in a 102 year old Grandmother who is not hearing all that well at the best of the times and it got even more complicated.
"Can you hear me now?"
"Say something. We can't hear you."
"Who can't hear me? You or Grandmommy?"
At one point, someone got out the external bluetooth speakers, which only slightly improved the opportunity for my Grandmother to hear, but unfortunately created further lag on the connection. It was almost like a poorly dubbed movie.
Of course, we pressed on through, and were able to exchange greetings and have a decent conversation. As always, my Grandmother asked me what was on my Christmas list, and for whatever reason, I mentioned that I was interested in getting a new frying pan. The obvious problem with this is that my Grandmother wants so much to have a present for me under the tree on Christmas morning, and I am 100% against getting a frying pan in the US only to schlep it back to Frankfurt when I return after holidays. Even though I quickly tried to change the conversation topic, the idea was already planted in my Grandmother's mind. More on this in a minute.
So, on Thanksgiving Day, everyone except Grandmommy headed off to do some my hiking in northern Oklahoma. Meanwhile, I had a good weekend myself, just mucking around as always. I looked forward to everyone's return from their weekend getaway, particularly since my dad had already posted a few photos of their trip while they were away.
I think it is absolutely fantastic that my Dad is a fan of social media. He enjoys posting the photos, seeing the feedback, and staying connected with lots of different people. I also think it is really cool how much my father likes taking pictures of squirrels and prairie dogs (and other small animals) in addition to the action/people shots.
This past week, I was waiting patiently for my father to check in with me, as he routinely does. Since we have the time difference, it is common for him to give me a ring immediately upon his return from the early morning gym visit. This is usually during my mid-afternoon, and has really worked out well for our time schedules. It's not as if I am THAT busy, but my father and I have that relation where we don't have to set a scheduled time each week to chat. We just do it whenever. (This is a bit different from skype calls with my mother, as she wanted to set a certain time for when we could sit down and skype. This actually became more inconvenient and frustrating. I believe I have reported here once before that I inadvertently made the mistake of telling my mom I would be home in an hour to skype, then immediately got hammered and totally forgot about the call. This resulted in Nadja getting a panicky call from my mother, etc.)
At any rate, by Wednesday, I was starting to wonder where my father was, and I certainly was missing the contact.
On Thursday, I sent a text to my sister wishing her a happy birthday. I have plans still to talk to her personally during the weekend, as is our usual routine. Later Thursday afternoon, I was doing some meditating in the living room when my mobile rang, alerting me to a whatsapp video call from my Dad.
He was at Grandmommy's and they were just checking in. We spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out (better said, for THEM to figure out) how to work the video and speaker phone, but as I was sitting quietly in my living room, there was less background interference. It was actually pretty funny (both haha and curious) that suddenly my Grandmother was able to hear and see me without too much problem. She and I had a nice little chat for a few minutes, during which time she told me about how things were going with her. She asked me some more questions about a frying pan (size? style?) and I did my best to dodge those questions. She then related a quip about how she recently suggested that they offer tickets to the general public for when she took a shower each day. Apparently there is a revolving group of attendants who assist her with her morning routine (including shower) and as one might imagine, this is not a quick jump in and out of the shower process for someone her age.
Let me pause here for a moment and make the statement: if ever someone needed a reason to appreciate life, let them use this anecdote.
Here is a 102 year old woman, ever so graceful, who understands her increasing physical limitations. Yet, she can immediately find the humor in the situation. I am not asking for someone to post a video of this on youtube, but I can actually hear my grandmother saying "Hey, you all ought to sell tickets to this," as she was being helped out of her dressing gown to get in the shower. Classic stuff.
We spoke a few more minutes before she handed the mobile back to my father. They were headed to a routine doctor's appointment, so we did not have much time. I really just wanted to coordinate when he and I would next be able to skype from home, where we could speak for longer and more privately.
"I've been busy," said my dad. This explained why he was out of pocket the past few days.
But, as his birthday was yesterday, I wanted to be sure to speak with him. He indicated that his morning routine was going to be a bit different as he would be going to breakfast with my sister, and furthermore, I had a mid-afternoon appointment during our normal time slot.
We ended our Thursday call agreeing to get something sorted out for Friday.
I watched the Arsenal on Thursday evening, then woke up yesterday morning ready for another day and the upcoming weekend.
As I got my Friday morning started, I had an ear open for the house doorbell. Our utilities company had posted a notice that they would be around to read the Gas and Electric meters at some point during the day. This is an annual thing, and as I work from home, I now just let them come in and do their thing as opposed to several years ago when I was regularly out of town on business. Back then I would do my own meter readings and submit them online.
The first time the doorbell rang, it was the trash man.
The second time the doorbell rang, it was the cable company guy.
Finally, the person from Mainova showed up. This was the first time I had seen a female meter reader. She was pleasant enough, and I quick explained that I unfortunately did not have the key to the cellar (where one of the meters was), but she could come on in and read the meter in my flat.
I did notice rather quickly that she was not particularly tall. So, I was a little curious to see her approach to getting the reading off of the meter which hangs very high in the front hallway of my apartment.
We both looked at the meter for a couple of seconds, and she asked me, "Can you read it?"
Not without help was my response. I ran to the kitchen to grab a chair and brought it back for her to stand on and get closer to the meter.
She logged the result in her book, thanked me, and went on to the next flat.
Now, I will wait a week or two for the notice to come from the utilities company informing me of what my rates for next year will be.
I went on with my Friday, finished work, headed for my appointment, then stopped in at the pub on the way home. Although I don't tend to stay out too late on Fridays, I did remind myself to keep my wits about me as I still wanted to skype with Dad to wish him a happy birthday later on that evening when I got home.
A couple of hours later, I paid my tab and came home and called Pop. We ended up having a nice little visit, catching up on all the recent events. I commented on all the photos that he had taken and posted, then he asked me what I thought of the Thanksgiving dinner pictures.
"As soon as you post them, I will see them!" I responded.
Later on, he would be having a few folks over to help decorate the Christmas tree, as is part of the standard end of November tradition. A couple of weeks ago, he paid someone to put up the outside Christmas lights on the house, but I requested that he not send me any pictures until after Thanksgiving, preferably late late late November (or even better, early December).
I like enjoying the seasons for the brief moments that we have them, but I am very much averse to rushing things. Unfortunately, we now live in a society where everything is set to fast-forward: about the time that Halloween comes around, Christmas decorations are hitting the stores. Thanksgiving hardly gets a mention, and at the rate we are going, mid-December will bring the Valentines's decorations out, and about the 8th of January, we will see our first Easter decorations.
Thus, I wanted to experience the Thanksgiving photos before seeing any Christmas decorations.
Here in Germany, the stores have had their decorations out for a few weeks already, and just a couple of days ago, the Christmas markets have opened up. It is still a little bit rushed, but here it is the first of December, and tomorrow is Advent Sunday. Now, I am ready for it.
Fortunately, my dad posted the Thanksgiving pics last evening; I saw them first thing this morning. There's even a cool action shot of my grandmother and sister talking to me (quite visible) on video.
Later today, I am sure I will see the photos of the tree decorating party, and that will be yet another warm fuzzy for me; my opportunity to participate vicariously.
In a couple of weeks I will head over for the holidays myself. My grandmother is already counting the days until I arrive.
Me, too.
see you out there
bryan
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