I'm Just Sayin'

I've officially joined the group. You know. The group that has senior parents. Let me say I love my father, and I am blessed to still have him with us. I've mentioned it before, but will repeat it here. Mother passed away four years ago this month.

So, yes. I'm glad Dad is still here. But I'm just sayin' people of his generation and just a little younger should not have electronic devices. Now if it was my mother, there would have been no problems. She was just as handy with computers and cell phones as me and my son. But some (men) should not own a computer or cell phone.

Why men? My husband comes to mind, but we're not talking about him today. It's my dad who worries and calmly panics over these things. Yes, he stay's calm, no hurry, but if you knew him you'd know that when it comes to electronic devices that calm is a false front and any problem with them calls for quiet panic.

First let me give you some information on my dad. He's handy with tools. He can do electrical work, he's great at plumbing, and can fix an air conditioner, refrigerator and ceiling fans. He works on the pump motor for his pool and the salt water filter as well. He can repair many problems on his car, well he could before computers were installed.

See where I'm going with this. Dad is a handy guy. Mr. Fix it if you want to give him a title. He's the one we call when we need work done on most problems around the house. My husband, the carpenter, who builds houses for a living won't even tackle things my dad does for us.

But give dad a cell phone or a computer; and don't even get me started on the Kindle problems I've encountered this past year, dad just cannot figure out how to find and fix the problems. The simplest thing and he's on the phone with me or my son telling us the device isn't working. He's also that way with the remote control to his TV, stereo or satellite dish, but we'll save that for another day.

So when my son gave his grandfather a new cell phone for Christmas a lot of thought went into it. I take the blame here and now. I called my son after I'd received 10 dropped calls from my father early in December. Dad was in a well populated area where his old cell phone should not have had problems. But that day (not the first time this has happened) the phone would not keep a call. I must say his cell phone was over 10 years old and needed to be retired.

We knew the new phone had to be similar to the old one. You know the flip type with just the number keys and the few function bars above them. Dad does not text, take pictures or browse the internet with his phone. He calls people and talks to them. What a novel idea using a phone for its purpose. Sorry I got carried away for a minute. Not harping at dad, but the need for people to text one another instead of, oh let's say call them or talk to them face to face. Texting in my opinion is a waste of time.

Anyway, I'll get back to my dad's story now. It took my son weeks to find just the right phone. He had to pay a fortune for it because dad already had his own contract and there was no need to purchase one, just the phone. It was similar to the old phone, but it is a lot more advanced in technology and is military grade. That means he can stomp on it, drop it from a plane or in the water and it will still work. Not sure why dad needed those features, but one never knows these day.

On Christmas day, dad opened his gift and was excited. He then promptly handed it to my son who spent the morning putting the old SIM card into the new phone and making sure his number and contacts transferred. They transferred without any problem. He's had the phone for three weeks now and suddenly it's acting up. Now acting up to him is nothing to us.

For example one of his problems is that he has to hit the phone, you know the green phone button twice to actually make a call. Well for us, or me anyway I'd either ignore this minor problem or go into the phone, complete a search and see where to change settings. I suspect that when he opens it, the phone is ready to dial and then hit the green button. I believe by pushing the green button he's deactivating it. Dad doesn't know this nor would he understand the first time I explained it. To dad, this is a major deal and the entire phone needs to be reprogrammed.

Next his contact list with tons of numbers on it disappeared. You would not believe how many people he talks to on a daily basis on that cell phone. There are neighbors that just call. He has old friends from work that just want to see how he's doing. He has women friends, not that kind; they're women friends who are married to his old buddies from work who call just to make sure he's doing okay living alone. Not like he hasn't been living by himself for the past 4 years, but then maybe at their age they're really calling to make sure he's not ill or still living. I'm just sayin'.

Back to my story. So he said his phone contact list was gone. In fact it was just hidden in phone land when he tried to make a call that he couldn't remember the number for. While he didn't say it; when he was on the phone with me asking me to look at the contraption and fix it for him, I could hear his thoughts loud and clear. "I have the numbers programmed into the phone, so I don't have to remember them in my head."

I calmly told him I'd fix it so he could call his buddies, or my sister or my son when he needed. He told me he'd be by in a few hours and I went back to my writing. When the time came for him to get here. I waited. Now mind you, I'd already closed my Word document, so he couldn't see what I was writing. Yes, I keep it a secret that I write erotica, smut, sex. That's just between me, my husband and my readers. Well my son knows, but he doesn't read my work. Thank goodness. That would mean years of therapy for both of us, but that's another story.

So I'm waiting for dad to come by. After about fifteen minutes of me waiting I'm beginning to wonder where he is. He's never late. In fact he's usually fifteen minutes early. When I'm thinking he's gotten into a mess with the new fridge, he had to buy one. He couldn't fix the dead compressor. He calls.

His earlier panicking was all for nothing. He turned the phone off and back on and his list magically appeared. . . . You can't see me now, or the other day when this happened, but it goes something like this.

On my end, silence. My eyes blink a few times and I wait for the explanation.
Dad: Not sure what happened, but after I turned the phone off and back on the list's back.
Me: silence and more blinking. I clear my throat and say something lame like, "It just reprogrammed itself."
Dad: Well I guess I'll go now. If it happens again I'll let you know.
Me: blinking, blinking and more blinking, another pause. "Okay dad, luv ya."

I'm just sayin