Bear with me on this..it'll take a minute to "go around the barn", so to
speak..
I have a lot to be thankful for this year, particularly regarding my family.
Besides finding repair parts for my beloved Tannoys, my son stopped
"blonding" the top of his hair, and finding a wholesaler online for repair
parts for my hot tub (hey...all blessings count!), I have been delivered of
My Mother. Yep, and I owe it all to the Incredible Internet...!
Mom was a lousy retiree...became reclusive, staying in her nightee, eating
cookies and reading cheap romance novels, often not coming out of the house
for weeks on end. When I found huge brown-paper bags of said romance novels
under her bed and discovered she had "subscribed" to the darn things (getting
10 per month!) I knew I had to take action. She was also exhibiting signs of
Altzheimer's (forgetting pin numbers at ATMs, losing insurance for
non-payment, etc) and had become the Grinch of the Year.
Anyway,I bought her a computer..one of those Packard Bell packages in the
chains, a Pen 266 MMX..plenty fast for the interent...and showed her how to
go to Zone.com and play bridge (for those of you not aware of this
site..check it out..many card games and you play with people all over the
world). Mom has always been an ace bridge player and I knew this would
intrigue her.
And intrigue her it did..within a week she was talking about all these people
as if she had known them for years, and kept telling me about all these men
and how "cute" they were....Then, one day, three customers walked into my
decorating shop to say how "happy they were that my Mother was getting
married and moving to CA". ?? 'Twas news to me! She resigned from her
position as Pres of the board of the local arts council guild and announced
that "she would not be able to complete her duties because she was getting
married". I knew she had "met" a man in a game 10 days hence that she
liked,,,,but sheesh (sorry..best word I can think of...) As Mothers can be
tender when daughters inquire, I decided the best course of action was to
await the announcement...and two days later she came to the house and
announced she was getting married. She had not seen him in the flesh, knew
not whether he had BO, and claimed to have known him for six months (she
forgot that I had just purchased the computer 10 weeks before...) I was
careful and simply asked what the rush was, which angered her and she
flounced out. The CyberLover was to come to see her in two weeks and they
were to marry on the tarmac before anyone could convince them
otherwise.....paranoia?
Well, CyberLover came early..the next day, by surprise,at 8 a.m., wanted to
catch her off-guard (and see her, mess and all). Really ticked her off as her
house was AWFUL, her hair not dyed, you name it. Tee-hee. She acted terribly
to him and he promptly went back to San Diego, saying she was too "strong" a
woman for him...she meanwhile poo-pooed him and went back to her man-hating
rhetoric of yore..
But apparently they had an online chemistry of some sort, as within a week
they were cooing online again. He then wrote and said that, if she would come
THERE (on his turf!) and stay two weeks he would take her to Hawaii for a
week...SOOOO, she was back to "that dear man", "that sweetheart", you can
imagine.
To make a long story short, she went, they clicked, he's great (he's wealthy,
handsome, they are very happy). I really like him, she moved out yonder with
him, fairy-tale ending, CyberLove does work, AND she's now 1500 miles away
and taken care of!!!! Only bummer is he's 84 to her 71..sure wish I could
wave a magic wand and make him younger...
Moral: If your widowed Mom is driving you crazy, buy her a computer! Best
part is, you may get it back and have it as an extra to hook your Acer
Scanwit to down the road AND you can scan on all your old OM (Oly
content!!!!) slides!!!!!!!!!!
I told you I'd get there....
Happy Thanksgiving!
Susan
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