Grandma lost and found
I tried calling grandma at 1 PM, our normal Sunday routine. It went straight to voicemail, didn't even ring. My mother, who doesn't know how phones work, said something like, maybe it does that because it's full! Mom. Either she's already on the phone or the phone is off; that's what that means. I wondered if perhaps she needed to charge the phone, but didn't say that out loud.
Figuring she would call us in a few minutes, I started working on a mask; I already had it partway done, and this seemed like a good way to kill time. No grandma. At one point I heard mom dialing, and correctly guessed it was grandma's number; since mom has the annoying habit of taking all her calls on speakerphone, I could hear that it again went straight to voicemail. Hmm. Mildly concerning.
It was after 3:30 when she finally called back. She hadn't plugged in her phone yesterday, so it had no charge today, and naturally it took a while for it to get up to a decent percentage; I think she said she tried turning it on when it hit 92%. But it wouldn't turn on for her. We have no idea what she did or tried, and mom I think was giving her instructions using her own phone, which is not the same model as grandma's, so I don't know how helpful that is (and don't bother trying to explain that to my mother), and besides, the phone clearly was working by that point. Grandma ended up going down the hall to the neighbors', where a "young girl" (likely a teenager or 20-something) answered and helped her out. She's lucky she's cute. I am thankful grandma's neighbors are kind to her.
This is also how we heard the jelly jar story. We found this out last year, that grandma no longer has the strength in her hands and arms to be able to open certain jars. Dad even got her an electric jar opener, and we tested it out while she was here at Christmas, and we saw how it worked. Pretty cool. Except she broke it somehow, and she is again relegated to asking neighbors when they walk past. Except this time, she took a little table, put it outside her door, put the jar on it, and added a note asking if someone could open it for her. Someone did, and knocked on her door to let her know they'd done it. She said it was a couple who lived on her floor, a few doors down, and they were wearing masks so it was all good. Grandma, for her part, had her mask hanging from her ear. You know, in case she needed to put it on, but it doesn't sound like she did. This *would* totally be my grandma, walking around her place with a mask hanging from one ear. It's a fashion statement, don'tcha know. (Meanwhile, mom had to share the story with dad. I hadn't planned on it because we'd have to admit that his gift got broken. He wasn't happy to hear about that. Good job, mom.)
Also, grandma got her hair done...again. We were under the impression that she didn't have an appointment until this Wednesday the 1st. Well, when she'd gotten her hair done the last time, at my aunt's beauty shop, the owner did it, and grandma didn't like how her hair got styled (she doesn't do it like my aunt does it, shockingly enough), and she charged a lot, so grandma ended up at my aunt's old shop, where she worked years ago. That owner sold the place and moved back to Poland, so someone new bought it and remodeled it. Grandma apparently liked it better, because it seemed more modern (not her words, but the essence of her comment) AND what cost her $28 from the one place, only cost her $20 here. Grandma made us laugh--she said the stylist was too gentle with her hair and needs to be rougher with it; that conjured up thoughts that one should not have with regards to one's grandma. (She didn't understand why we were laughing and we were not about to explain it.) But, good news, she's okay, and she seems to like how she looks, so ultimately all is well.
Figuring she would call us in a few minutes, I started working on a mask; I already had it partway done, and this seemed like a good way to kill time. No grandma. At one point I heard mom dialing, and correctly guessed it was grandma's number; since mom has the annoying habit of taking all her calls on speakerphone, I could hear that it again went straight to voicemail. Hmm. Mildly concerning.
It was after 3:30 when she finally called back. She hadn't plugged in her phone yesterday, so it had no charge today, and naturally it took a while for it to get up to a decent percentage; I think she said she tried turning it on when it hit 92%. But it wouldn't turn on for her. We have no idea what she did or tried, and mom I think was giving her instructions using her own phone, which is not the same model as grandma's, so I don't know how helpful that is (and don't bother trying to explain that to my mother), and besides, the phone clearly was working by that point. Grandma ended up going down the hall to the neighbors', where a "young girl" (likely a teenager or 20-something) answered and helped her out. She's lucky she's cute. I am thankful grandma's neighbors are kind to her.
This is also how we heard the jelly jar story. We found this out last year, that grandma no longer has the strength in her hands and arms to be able to open certain jars. Dad even got her an electric jar opener, and we tested it out while she was here at Christmas, and we saw how it worked. Pretty cool. Except she broke it somehow, and she is again relegated to asking neighbors when they walk past. Except this time, she took a little table, put it outside her door, put the jar on it, and added a note asking if someone could open it for her. Someone did, and knocked on her door to let her know they'd done it. She said it was a couple who lived on her floor, a few doors down, and they were wearing masks so it was all good. Grandma, for her part, had her mask hanging from her ear. You know, in case she needed to put it on, but it doesn't sound like she did. This *would* totally be my grandma, walking around her place with a mask hanging from one ear. It's a fashion statement, don'tcha know. (Meanwhile, mom had to share the story with dad. I hadn't planned on it because we'd have to admit that his gift got broken. He wasn't happy to hear about that. Good job, mom.)
Also, grandma got her hair done...again. We were under the impression that she didn't have an appointment until this Wednesday the 1st. Well, when she'd gotten her hair done the last time, at my aunt's beauty shop, the owner did it, and grandma didn't like how her hair got styled (she doesn't do it like my aunt does it, shockingly enough), and she charged a lot, so grandma ended up at my aunt's old shop, where she worked years ago. That owner sold the place and moved back to Poland, so someone new bought it and remodeled it. Grandma apparently liked it better, because it seemed more modern (not her words, but the essence of her comment) AND what cost her $28 from the one place, only cost her $20 here. Grandma made us laugh--she said the stylist was too gentle with her hair and needs to be rougher with it; that conjured up thoughts that one should not have with regards to one's grandma. (She didn't understand why we were laughing and we were not about to explain it.) But, good news, she's okay, and she seems to like how she looks, so ultimately all is well.