2002-04-30 - 7:57 p.m.

Now playing: Kitka, "Voices On The Eastern Wind".

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Happy birthday tomorrow to Donna! :D

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So, here's an email I sent last night to family members.

*sigh*

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So Granny calls me this afternoon at work and tells me she's broken her phone and it's in pieces all over the place and can I please come up after work to look at it. Thinking that she needs her phone next to her chair cause what if she's sitting there and has some sort of attack, I say sure, I can go. Five minutes before I leave work there's a voice mail asking can I please take her down to Friendly's for dinner as she's been in the house all day and is going stir crazy and plus she doesn't have any food. I deliberate my answer on the way up and decide that I can indeed take her down to Friendly's.

I get to her house after work, and she tells me not to come up yet because she hasn't any clothes on. Okay...she knew I was coming, but didn't dress. Fine, I can take it. Whilst waiting in the lovely foyer-basement, I hear dripping water. I investigate, only to find dripping coming from the mess of plumbing above her washing machine. Can't see the source, can't find the shutoff valves. Put a bowl where I saw the drips and then went upstairs to investigate the phone once she'd "gotten dressed."

Arrive upstairs to see phone just fine on floor, Granny in blouse only. No phone pieces, but a mess of tangled cords. Detangle cords and wrap excess with rubber band to keep neat and tidy while she finishes dressing and taking the curlers out of her hair. Help with dress zipper and necklace. Tell her about pipes. Try to stay only on the path of Big Y circulars laid on the floor as shoes remained on. Call Bernie the plumber, but no answer.

Discuss how I could do some grocery shopping after dinner. Gee, what a good idea! Grab piece of paper for list, and write plumber's phone number on it for usage while out. Leave for dinner.

Arrive at Friendly's on Boston Road. Get seated in booth. Look on menu for items without cheese, bacon, or mayonnaise. Find none. Order plain hamburger, forgetting to specify no mayonnaise, and no, they can't cook them medium, but rather only medium-well or well-done. Whatever. Order side salad and broccoli instead of the fries. Granny orders a tuna roll without the roll, applesauce, wheat toast, and tea.

Dig pills out of bottom of purse from when pillbox opened and tipped accidentally a while ago. Tell Granny that she doesn't have to rub each pill down to nothing with the napkins from the now-empty table dispenser before she takes the pill. Wait for dippy waitress to bring water. My salad comes. Eat up, she says. I take two bites. Surely you're not eating already!? You're going to be waiting while I eat! Why don't you wait until I get my food? Okay, whatever, I can wait. Try to catch elusive bothersome gnat. Tea by now cold, can she get coffee instead. Sure. Explain to Granny how I'd like to be home by 9 because I get up early on Tuesdays to walk in Forest Park. Make grocery list.

Dinners come. Granny proclaims she got the tunafish for the roughage. Um, okay. Eat my salad, broccoli, and burger-with-mayonnaise. Endure probably 45 minutes of Granny eating tuna and applesauce, while trying to give her good advice about foods to eat that will "help her regularity." Tuna fish isn't known for its "roughage" as she calls it. Suggest baked beans, more fruits and vegs, whole grains, oatmeal, etc. Has my diet changed because of the diabetes? No, don't you recall how I always used to get salad and broccoli at Friendly's????

By now it's 7:20. Ask if she'll be done soon. Sure thing. Does she need potty? No, she's fine. !!!

At 7:30 she's done. We leave. I note heavy leaning on arm while walking to car. I drive toward Stop and Shop. Where am I going? Shopping. Oh no! Had she known that, she would have gone potty! Take her home! She can't walk around the store! Duh, I was going to have her stay in the car while I went in for 15 minutes. Nope, can't do it. Take her home, but do please try Bernie the plumber on cell phone. Pull into Khazana's parking lot. Call. She leaves message.

Discuss when she needs groceries. Well, apart from bananas and cereal and 1 frozen dinner, she doesn't really have much that much. Okay, will try to get them soon. Discuss that she needs to tell me explicitly what she needs and when, that I can't guess. She seems to understand.

Get home. Watch her struggle up the stairs. Not good. She calls plumber again and try to investigate source of leak. Leak not coming from above floor level. Put bigger pail under drip. Tell her will try to get groceries tomorrow or Weds. That's fine.

SO. Mom or Melanie, do either of you feel like relieving me of the grocery run? I'm not sure about payment. She said she'd mail me a check. Whatever, I don't really care.

End of story! And now to bed, so I can get up early tomorrow.

--Adam