Happy New Year!

I’m sitting here on New Year’s Eve, listening to a thunderstorm rolling through. I can’t believe it. This sure has been a strange winter so far. Today was another Lazy Sunday. I may have to get a copyright on those, because they sure work well for me.

Yesterday we went to visit my Mom for the day. She’s about an hour and a half away. The drive was pretty easy and with the good weather, it went quickly. I hadn’t yet told her about my trip to the ER, since I’d talked to her on the phone 3 times since my heart issues and not once did she bother to ask how I was doing. It’s been a point of contention between us for a while now. Whenever we talk on the phone, she rambles on for 15-20 minutes about every little detail of her life, not even pausing to allow me to take part in the conversation, until she finally runs out of steam. Sometimes she remembers to ask about us, but usually not. You’d think that her position as a grandma would mean that she’d be asking all sorts of questions about what the kids are doing, how school is, whatever, but that just isn’t the case. I’ve mentioned it several times, but I don’t seem to be getting through to her. It seems that she’s just too caught up in her world to care too much about us. It’s odd, because if you ask her, we’re the most important thing to her. I don’t mean to complain about her too much, I mean of course I love her. It’s just a bit of a sore spot.

Anyway, about 2 hours after we’d arrived at her house, I still hadn’t gotten any sort of query into how things have been for me. I figure maybe I’m just being bullheaded about this. So, I finally blurt out that I had a bit of excitement this week, and go into my whole story of the trip to the ER and the other tests I need to have on my heart. I got a moment of concern, but then before I really even finished my story, she turned it around and started telling me about one time when she was having some chest pains! I mean come on! Show a little compassion toward your son. It will most likely turn out to be nothing, but to be having any sort of heart concerns at 34 is just a bit unnerving.

On some levels, I wonder if she’s still burnt out from dealing with my dad’s cancer for 8 years. Who would want to have to deal with any other health issues after giving so much of herself to his care? I’d be willing to accept that excuse, except for the fact that on the telephone, when she’s not giving me the rundown of what she had to eat, or what errands she went on, she’s filling me in on what illnesses my uncle, or cousin, or great-aunt, or whoever is dealing with.

The phone calls have changed so much since my dad’s been gone. When he and I used to talk, somehow he’d get me talking about whatever was going on in my life, whether it was work, the kids, places my family went, stories from the past. It was very strange, as whenever we’d get together, it wasn’t like that, but on the phone, it was an easy conversation.

Well, I hear a bunch of the local yocals shooting off fireworks, so with that, Happy New Year!