Zooming with Family on Thanksgiving Had Me Imitating Princess Di…
Except I didn’t throw up.
It started out really nice with my husband’s kids and his daughter’s family. Let me say that I love them all very much — especially the grandson I won by marrrying his grandfather.
My stepdaughter and stepson did most of the talking. My husband, as usual, did very little. And it was all very much virus around their neighborhood and family staying safe type of comments.
Until it turned to writing — something most of the family does. (Stepdaughter is a “real” published author). Then it went off the rails.
“Dad, are you writing?” said the stepdaughter.
“Sir, you told me you wanted to start writing again,” from my stepson. Husband has six selfpublished books (Morgan Reinbold). Books written about ten years ago.
I could see my daughter’s face twist until she couldn’t hold back any longer.
This happens every time when someone who’s not with him 24/7 decides they know what he should do — from having a cellphone (he stopped using it and no longer knows how to use it) to using the computer for writing (same thing).
My daughter (bless her heart) has set him up over and over again to use the computer, even using dictation apps. He’ll use it for about three paragraphs, come onto a problem, stop and then not go back to it and then forget how to use it.
We actually took the use of thecomputer away from when we discovered he’d spent 8K on pocket watches on eBay. That was the last straw.
My daughter started yelling. “Which one of you is gonna come down here and sit with him while he relearns everything.” Stepdaughter lives 300 miles away. Stepson works nights. No one answered.
“Mom gets too frustrated,” she added. She could have also added that Mom (me) has had one stroke and her BP is still too high.
There was some discussion about setting him up with daughter each morning for a Zoom session. My husband did not eem interested. There was also discussion on how he could practice his cursive — more diffciult since a stroke. Nothing was finalized, except I continue to set out his writing practice books on the table everyday — alongside his glucometer (that he uses if he sees it).
After leaving the Zoom meeting, I got a glass of wine.
“Just a glass?” my daughter asked. “Not the whole bottle?”
Later I took a spoon to the pumpkin pie and the apple pie, mimicking the Princess in The Crown.
I have to admit it was satisfying.
