Real Life

I visited my grandfather last weekend. It was a beautiful weekend in the San Luis Obispo valley where his ranch is nestled. It was hard to hug him and admit that his time is near, and yet, it was wonderful as well -- he's got an ailing heart and to the best of his cardiologist's guess it's probably going to stop ticking while he's still in control (albeit easily tired) of the rest of his body and mind. He's at peace. He's accepted his passing. It's us who have the trouble with acceptance.

After arriving home last night, I called R. We talked for a while and I managed to keep my emotions in decent check. But, I decided I needed to go for a drive. I put my phone in my purse (headset was already on) started the car, and drove away. Two houses down the block, the phone beeped. I looked down to realize that rather than calling from my cell phone, I'd left the house with the portable phone. [Rad]

Quickly, I backed up, thinking I could reconnect with the signal and tell R I'd call back on my cell phone. But, by the time the phone reconnected, I heard "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and dial again..."

Right. I searched my purse for my real cell phone. No luck.

The portable phone rang again (as I was now in front of the house). I tried to answer. No luck.

Sheepishly, I walked back into the house to find E on the phone, talking with R and laughing. "Your cell phone is on your desk," E laughingly told me.

Right. So I do absent minded stuff like this all the time. But this one is pretty high up on the list. In fact, I don't know if this is worse or better than the time I hung the phone up by putting it in the freezer (where it was found by others, during a party...)