Saturday, July 17, 2004
This post is about me, not my mother...
...nor about the my-mother-in-me part of me. It's a curious anecdote, though, so I decided to insert it.
I went to Costco today to pick up an ear thermometer for my mother. I found something much better, a temporal artery thermometer (a very cool instrument). I was using my iPod during the excursion. At the register as I was removing the headphones the left wire tangled in my earrings. As I struggled to free my earrings from the wire the cashier winced in sympathy and said, "Oh, that's one of those newfangled headset telephones, isn't it?"
"God, no," I said, in my normally resonant voice. "I'm not one of those cell phone people. I don't want to be that available to others. If people can't get me at home, too damn bad."
Almost before I finished, the customer behind me applauded. Within seconds, several other people in my line and the line next to me were clapping.
I was startled. I thought I was the lone cell phone holdout in the universe but I guess not. Makes me feel a little bit more at home in this life.
In a somewhat related incident, when I awoke my mother from her nap (during which I purchased the thermometer) I told her I had a surprise, produced the thermometer and proceeded to slide it across her forehead and exhibit her temperature. Surprises are always a good way to awaken her and get her out of bed. This one was exactly what the daughter ordered. She was amazed, insisted on examining the instrument and taking my temperature.
A few minutes later, while we were in the bathroom setting her up for the activity of being awake, I mentioned to her that since I began living with her every time I bring home a new piece of technology I always, always contemplate that when she was a teenager each of these instruments was beyond her imagination.
"That's true," she said.
"Does all this stuff surprise you or shock you?"
She gave me a deeply knowing, slightly accusatory look. "No," she declared. "Remember, I had a microwave, a home computer and a VCR long before you."
"That's true," I said, laughing. "I guess, compared to you, I'm a Luddite!"
"What's that?"
I explained and she said, "Well, you're coming along. I'm a good influence on you."
Gotta love that woman!
Well, I guess this post was about my mother. Figures, doesn't it. This, I think, is a good, offhand definition of what I mean by "surrender". In my life right now everything, in one way or another, brings me back to my mother. I'm lucky I was spit out of the womb of a woman with whom I feel grateful that this is the nature (sometimes more apparent than others) of mother/child relationships.
I went to Costco today to pick up an ear thermometer for my mother. I found something much better, a temporal artery thermometer (a very cool instrument). I was using my iPod during the excursion. At the register as I was removing the headphones the left wire tangled in my earrings. As I struggled to free my earrings from the wire the cashier winced in sympathy and said, "Oh, that's one of those newfangled headset telephones, isn't it?"
"God, no," I said, in my normally resonant voice. "I'm not one of those cell phone people. I don't want to be that available to others. If people can't get me at home, too damn bad."
Almost before I finished, the customer behind me applauded. Within seconds, several other people in my line and the line next to me were clapping.
I was startled. I thought I was the lone cell phone holdout in the universe but I guess not. Makes me feel a little bit more at home in this life.
In a somewhat related incident, when I awoke my mother from her nap (during which I purchased the thermometer) I told her I had a surprise, produced the thermometer and proceeded to slide it across her forehead and exhibit her temperature. Surprises are always a good way to awaken her and get her out of bed. This one was exactly what the daughter ordered. She was amazed, insisted on examining the instrument and taking my temperature.
A few minutes later, while we were in the bathroom setting her up for the activity of being awake, I mentioned to her that since I began living with her every time I bring home a new piece of technology I always, always contemplate that when she was a teenager each of these instruments was beyond her imagination.
"That's true," she said.
"Does all this stuff surprise you or shock you?"
She gave me a deeply knowing, slightly accusatory look. "No," she declared. "Remember, I had a microwave, a home computer and a VCR long before you."
"That's true," I said, laughing. "I guess, compared to you, I'm a Luddite!"
"What's that?"
I explained and she said, "Well, you're coming along. I'm a good influence on you."
Gotta love that woman!
Well, I guess this post was about my mother. Figures, doesn't it. This, I think, is a good, offhand definition of what I mean by "surrender". In my life right now everything, in one way or another, brings me back to my mother. I'm lucky I was spit out of the womb of a woman with whom I feel grateful that this is the nature (sometimes more apparent than others) of mother/child relationships.
