Communication

I keep my land line for the caregivers. In fact I had to change to a different plan (from the “I barely use the phone” to “ok, maybe I do from time to time”). The agency uses it as a way to verify their arrival and departure and calculate the time they spent here. When it rings, the rest of us stare at it just as someone from the 17^th century would. Why is it ringing? Who could that be? The number is unlisted and none of us give it out. Okay, I do when I’m asked for numbers when I buy something, but that’s only because I don’t want them bothering my cell number. Or if I’m forced by other’s land line paradigms and they MUST have our home number. I try to explain that no one answers it and there is no voice mail. Nope, the form says what it says, they don’t care if the data is useless, they MUST enter it.

We also do not have or keep a phone book. It is big and clunky and we have the internet. Does anyone actually use a phone book anymore? Most of the calls we make are to businesses or others’ cell numbers. The former can easily be found on the internet. The latter is certainly not in the phone book.

I understand that being a caregiver is not an exciting job. I understand that Grace is not one thrill after another. Grace sleeps, eats (barely), and asks the same questions over and over. However, when I got my last AT&T bill, I was in for a surprise; 22 calls to 411 costing over $30. In addition there were TONS of phone calls. One was almost four hours. FOUR HOURS. I talk a lot, my daughters talk a lot, but we are obviously merely rookies in the world of conversation. I took lecture classes in graduate school that were three hours and that included a break. I just can’t imagine.

I was also amazed that the battery on our phone lasted that long.