Things Break Down

It is the time of the broken refrigerators. The garage model we had stopped working after just 5 years. It cost about $450, so I didn't get an extended warranty. I bought a new one last week, also for about $450. Wifey's cold water (and my cold beer) is now cool again. And this is timely, as Canes football season is rapidly approaching, and the beer needs to be cold for watching away games. Coincidentally, the expensive built in, in the kitchen, started chirping. At first, we couldn't pinpoint the source of the chirping, and I replaced a few still good smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries. Finally, I realized the muffled chirps came from inside the fridge. Since that model cost near $5000, we DID buy the extended warranty. Alas, it ran out 6 months ago. So our handy repair folks, Glynns, are coming tomorrow am. They already know the problem -- a faulty electronic control board -- they're designed to last just longer than extended warranties... I wish it were so simple with people. Many old folks in and around our lives are also failing. My mom, 92 last April, is porpoising -- and lately is on an upswing. But her mortality still lurks, of course. Wifey's father seems on a direct downward spiral -- his Alzheimer's accelerating in its evil way. My partner Paul's mother is on a downward trend, too, with a newly broken hip superimposed on HER Alzheimer's. She's moved from an ALF to a nursing home. We went to a shiva call last week for Genia -- one of my in laws' friends. And today we have the funeral of Barbara, my friend Norman's mother, who just made it to 80, and died Friday. Barbara was a true lady in full -- active in the lives of her husband, kids, grandkids, and synagogue. The term "matriarch" is overused -- Barbara was truly one of them. She held together a terrific extended family. She fought off a terrible leukemia, and made it far longer than her doctors thought she would. But then Friday after midnight, surrounded by her loving family, she went to sleep, after one wonderful and fulfiled life. No -- of course there's no calling a repair service for people once they finally break down. I have no real complaints dealing with the stupid appliances...