It began when my brother, my sister and I were caregivers for our aging mother. I took Mama to her appointments for eyes and ears; my brother took her to the diabetes doctor and my sister took care of her bills and filled her meds container at the assisted-living apartment. We kept each other updated by telephone and those conversations usually began, "I'm calling to tell you what your mother did today." Even at the time, we recognized the telling of our frustrations as amusing. Today, 10 years after Mama's passing, they are treasured memories. In recent years, the Whine Line has been used mostly between we two sisters about our spouses, children and grandchildren. We still laugh a lot about Mama even as we see ourselves becoming her.
Today my sister called me, "I'm calling to ruin your day." Oh oh...last time she called, I misheard her and thought she said her dog died.
"Oh no, what?"
"I put the Christmas Tree up TODAY."
"Whaaat? December first? What's going on?"
"Well, I made my to-do list for the month and decided to do the items I hated doing the most, first."
And so, HER tree is up and she is moving on to writing the poem she has penned for her immediate family every year for the last 40 years while I'm just beginning to think about December.
I've spent the last several days reading directions for programming my new studio phone. One of its selling features is the ability to block calls. I may have to do that.
The photo above is the cover of our shared birthday book with our faces placed upon Ms. Englebreit's art. More about the birthday book in another post.
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