Month: July 2020

“Hi, Maga. It’s Abby!”

“How are you dear?”

“I’m doing well. And you?”

“I’m not the happiest person in the world.”

“Oh, no. Why not?”

“I have no close friends nearby.”

“The pandemic makes it feel like that, for sure.”

“It’s just awful.”

It honestly is. In so many ways. And to think that you’ve lived 99 full years only to be rewarded with isolation? It sucks hardcore. I tried hard to think of ways to lift her spirits.

“I heard you got your hair done today by Caregiver M,” I said trying to pivot her attention towards a happy event.

“I did.”

“And how do you feel? All shiny and fresh?”

Maga chuckled, but it was half-hearted.

“Oh my goodness,” she said. “There are a lot of shampoos!”

Is her TV listening to us the same way FB or IG do??? Yikes. Things were feeling topsy turvy, so I decided to throw caution to the wind.

“Maga, do you remember when we went to Hawaii for your 40th anniversary?”

“Oh, yes. That was sort of fun.”

“Sort of?? I’d say VERY.”

Maga chuckled a little more realistically.

“I remember when everyone went snorkeling, but Cousin H and I were too little, so we had to stay behind. You and Jobo stayed with us and you brought McDonalds and we had breakfast in bed.”

“How do you remember that?”

“It was a big moment in my young life.”

Maga chuckled for real.

I went for broke. “How did you and Jobo meet again?”

“Oh, you know, I don’t really remember. He was at MIT. I was at Wellesley.”

“But was it a blind date?”

“Hmm. I don’t know. I think it was through friends.”

“Whatever way it was, it worked. And it worked for my parents too. They met the same way. Ish.”

“He was a good one.”

“I’d agree with that.”

“There are good, medium, and bad ones. He was a super good one.”

Reader, he was a good one. The best. The foundation he and Maga put together for the legacy they’ve created is one for the record books. Well, my record books anyways. And when you’re in the middle of a pandemic and your world has shrunk to a tiny portion of what it once was, it’s a lot easier to feel like you’re queen of that domain and can decree things like “one for the record books” and “queen” and “my domain.”

“Where are you?” Maga asked.

“I’m at my parents’ house.”

“How were you able to do that?”

“My dad drove up to get me.”

“That was nice.”

“It was…” I dropped the phone and as I bent to pick it up, accidentally grabbed it by the hang up the phone button. After a few calls back went directly to voicemail, I got through.

“Did we get disconnected?” Maga asked.

“We did. Sorry. My fault.”

“That’s okay. I forgive you.”

“What are you up to tonight?” I asked.

“I’m working on a jigsaw puzzle. [Caregiver M] is helping.”

“That sounds rather fun.”

“Well, it’s not bad when you get right down to it.” As I chuckled, she continued, “38 across. Ask about. Query. Do you think that’s it?”

“Was the clue ask about query?”

“No. The answer is query.” As she spelled it out, I have to assume she was simultaneously writing it down. “Yes. I’m right.”

“31 down. [Cargiver M] could you come over here?”

“Dear, you have Abby on the phone. Talk to her.” As Maga repeatedly asked for her help (and ignored me), M went to get her glasses. “Casanova.”

“Well,” M said. “That’s going to be playboy.”

“That’s exactly right!” Maga said. “Very good!”

“49 down is going to be love,” Maga continued, as M and I listened on.

I suppose that’s one definition of it. Listening, helping, comforting, spelling.

Another one is reminding your grandmother of her daughter-in-law’s birthday today. (Happy birthday, Aunt C!) As I went over the details of that phone number, Caregiver M reminded Maga she’d already talked to her today and wished her a happy birthday.

Maga crushed the rest of the crossword puzzle. [Caregiver M] crushed crossing off Maga’s to do list. I crushed…well…listening to Maga’s daily activities. A rather successful Tuesday evening. ;)

The conversation started out as it usually does. Maga was munching on her dinner and I, with my virtual book club plans canceled last minute, had nothing but time on my hands, so I sat silently between each bite or made random comments about the weather, my job, my office, how I wished I could see her, how far about we lived, how she didn’t need sleeping pills because she had plenty of time before bed to get tired and so on and so forth.

It was all business as usual until Maga asked me a question. “When did we start this Tuesday business?”

I perked up at this display of her memory of our phone calls. “It was around the time Jobo died. Maybe a few months after that.”

Neither of us could remember when that was, but the ever trusty Caregiver M informed us it was, “May. About 13 years ago.” She would know, as that’s the same time she started working with Maga.

And then somehow that conversation meandered over to travel.

“Is there anywhere you didn’t get to go to that you wished you had?” I asked.

“Oh yes. I didn’t get to Europe much.”

“Maga! Yes, you did.”

“Well, let’s see. I went to England, France, Italy…”

“See! You’ve been all over Europe. Oh, and Germany,” I supplied.

“Yes,” Caregiver M agreed. “I remember you told me about going to Berlin.”

“And Switzerland,” I said.

“Oh yes. I did go there. How did you know that?”

“You were there with my mom and Aunt J and that’s when Neal Armstrong walked on the moon!”

“That’s right!”

“I’ll never forget that story!”

“He certainly was courageous to do that,” Maga said.

“What do you think it was like to walk on the moon?”

“Well, once you get there, there’s not much to see or do.”

“Kind of like here. In pandemic times.”

Maga chuckled. “How long does it take to get to the moon?”

“I have no idea. Let me look it up.”

“You can do that?”

“I can and I am. It takes 3 days.”

“If only I had some sleeping pills…”

“Well, if you do wake up, just think of the moon.”

“That’s not a bad idea. You’re pretty bright.”

“Thanks! Or, you could try reading. That’s what I do when I wake up in the middle of the night.”

“Do you wake up in the middle of the night?”

“Often.”

“What are you reading?”

“A book called A Woman is No Man.”

“Well that’s for sure.”

We may not be able to see each other in person, but this was a proper Tuesday night hangout session with a conversation that lingered for a total of 70 minutes, through the changing of the guard, around the local weather patterns, and out to the moon and back.

“Oh, Abby, darling. It’s you again.”

“It’s me again.”

“It’s Tuesday, isn’t it?” Maga said.

“It sure is.”

As she was munching on her turkey sandwich and chips and “all that stuff like that,” our conversation was kept short. I mean how long can a conversation be when you only talk about the weather twice?

Sometimes, though, all you need is “a chipper, cheery voice” and your day is brightened considerably.

“Good luck, and take care, and be good,” Maga said.

“And all the same to you.”

(And you. And you. And you. And, that’s about the sum total of my readers.)