I left my cell phone at my stepmother’s assisted living apartment yesterday. When I got home yesterday afternoon I called her from my land line and left a message on her answering machine letting her know that I had left my phone and that I would drive back down this morning to pick it up. I did wonder what her response was going to be when the “crowing roster” alarm I set went off after dinnertime. I tried to warn her when I left the message that when the alarm went off she might ask one of the aides come in and turn it off. You know how those snooze buttons keep working every five minutes.
And, no, I was not surprised this morning when I picked up the cell phone and saw that she had left me two voice messages yesterday. With the first one she called the cell phone to tell me that she couldn’t find my phone in the apartment. The second message she left me was to tell me that she had found my phone. Maybe that crowing rooster wasn’t such a bad thing after all. The phone had slipped out of my pocket and down the side of a chair. I did not have the heart to explain the irony of the messages she left, but then logic has never been her strong point.
On an unrelated topic, I was listening to an NPR program yesterday about Stephen Hawkings. It was an interview with one of his assistants who recently has written a book about him. Not her first I don’t think. She talked about the changes in his physical strength over the years. He has used computer technology for years to write his book and communicate. She said that though he has some set “phrases” that are useful in everyday lie and care that he can activate with one click most of his theoretical writing is built one word at a time. Years ago he used to be able to use his finger to click his choices moving through a series of word scans. At this point of his disease he is only able to use a muscle in his cheek and it may take him five minutes to find and select his next word.
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