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sarahmichelefSo lately a topic of discussion amongst the maternal family has been that my 87-year-old grandmother lives by herself in an extremely ramshackle house with no close family (kids or grandkids) ANYWHERE nearby. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
greydora and our cousin L are closest and that's just because they're both on the left coast. Recently Uncle R. (Mom's older brother) managed to convince Grandma that it would be OK for somebody to call and check on her every evening - as he put it, "that way we know by 10 pm if something's wrong." Up to this point, he has been doing all the calling but now he is traveling and not able to make the calls, so a number of the rest of us (greydora, mom, me, I don't know if the cousins or any of the family in Israel are going to join in this endeavor) are taking turns. Tonight was my turn so I gave her a buzz and we chatted for a bit about work, TRex's starting pre-k and her upcoming birthday, the fact that her school no longer uses actual photographs for their staff IDs (she's an elementary school teacher's aide - bonus points for speaking, at last count, six languages*), etc. Towards the end of the conversation I commented that maybe we'll continue the taking turns calling even after R is back in touch. She said, "Well, unless something is wrong, I don't really see the necessity of it." I said that I wasn't getting involved in that debate - she would have to take the issue up with her children, I was going to do as I was instructed.
*Her native German as well as English, Spanish (the one that she uses the most at work), French, Italian, and Hebrew. She may know some Russian, too. It might be said that I come by my facility with languages a bit naturally.
greydora and our cousin L are closest and that's just because they're both on the left coast. Recently Uncle R. (Mom's older brother) managed to convince Grandma that it would be OK for somebody to call and check on her every evening - as he put it, "that way we know by 10 pm if something's wrong." Up to this point, he has been doing all the calling but now he is traveling and not able to make the calls, so a number of the rest of us (greydora, mom, me, I don't know if the cousins or any of the family in Israel are going to join in this endeavor) are taking turns. Tonight was my turn so I gave her a buzz and we chatted for a bit about work, TRex's starting pre-k and her upcoming birthday, the fact that her school no longer uses actual photographs for their staff IDs (she's an elementary school teacher's aide - bonus points for speaking, at last count, six languages*), etc. Towards the end of the conversation I commented that maybe we'll continue the taking turns calling even after R is back in touch. She said, "Well, unless something is wrong, I don't really see the necessity of it." I said that I wasn't getting involved in that debate - she would have to take the issue up with her children, I was going to do as I was instructed.*Her native German as well as English, Spanish (the one that she uses the most at work), French, Italian, and Hebrew. She may know some Russian, too. It might be said that I come by my facility with languages a bit naturally.
