Plan Ahead & Be Available for Your Mom—Two themes merge.

Spiky Bugger

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Jan 5, 2014
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1–We should have planned ahead but we were distracted by how cool we thought we were. A couple of decades and-a-half ago, we started giving MiniSue a $$ birthday gift of her age, with a zero added on. When she was 23, it wasn’t a HUGE deal and it helped her a lot. She will be 47 next week.

2–MiniSue does not have a land line and my calls OFTEN go unanswered with a later apology, “Sorry, my phone was charging upstairs and I was down here.” (Irritates me because I MAY need her in a hurry and she’s an only child. I’ve got no other kid to bug. Also because I’m just senile enough that I usually forget why I called her.) She always pooh-poohs the idea when I suggest a second charger.

The Merger—Today I called and announced: “Your birthday is next week and I need input about your gift. Should we give you a check for $470 less the cost of your new phone charger, or just send an empty Happy Birthday card? Your choice.” [A snort…a slight chuckle…a sigh of exasperation.] I got her phone model number and the Samsung guy kept laughing when I told him why I was placing the order. The charger will arrive tomorrow.

(The Plan Ahead part gets REALLY important in 2025, when she turns 50! That’s 500 bucks! But there’s already a Bonus Gift she doesn’t know about. Back in 1973, when my mom turned 50, my gift to her was a gold charm bracelet with a big old charm with a “50” on it. That was a scary age for her, as her mother was diagnosed w/terminal cancer at 50 and died not long after that. I wanted her to celebrate 50. The bracelet became mine when she died. I think it would be EVER SO COOL if I can give that same bracelet to BOTH my mother and my daughter on their 50th birthdays. Don’tcha think?
 
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1–We should have planned ahead but we were distracted by how cool we thought we were. A couple of decades and-a-half ago, we started giving MiniSue a $$ birthday gift of her age, with a zero added on. When she was 23, it wasn’t a HUGE deal and it helped her a lot. She will be 47 next week.

2–MiniSue does not have a land line and my calls OFTEN go unanswered with a later apology, “Sorry, my phone was charging upstairs and I was down here.” (Irritates me because I MAY need her in a hurry and she’s an only child. I’ve got no other kid to bug. Also because I’m just senile enough that I usually forget why I called her.) She always pooh-poohs the idea when I suggest a second charger.

The Merger—Today I called and announced: “Your birthday is next week and I need input about your gift. Should we give you a check for $470 less the cost of your new phone charger, or just send an empty Happy Birthday card? Your choice.” [A snort…a slight chuckle…a sigh of exasperation.] I got her phone model number and the Samsung guy kept laughing when I told him why I was placing the order. The charger will arrive tomorrow.

(The Plan Ahead part gets REALLY important in 2025, when she turns 50! That’s 500 bucks! But there’s already a Bonus Gift she doesn’t know about. Back in 1973, when my mom turned 50, my gift to her was a gold charm bracelet with a big old charm with a “50” on it. That was a scary age for her, as her mother was diagnosed w/terminal cancer at 50 and died not long after that. I wanted her to celebrate 50. The bracelet became mine when she died. I think it would be EVER SO COOL if I can give that same bracelet to BOTH my mother and my daughter on their 50th birthdays. Don’tcha think?
Yes, ever so cool.
 

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