Sleepless in Miami

My California sister was here for 4 nights, and I decided to send her off in a decidely local way --a stone crab dinner.

So D1, her boyfriend, Wifey, my sister, and I headed over to Trulucks, where Monday night is all you can eat claws...and this year, they've switched to large ones (with a healthy price increase, of course).

We had a few cocktails, and then feasted. My sister Sue had a blast --she doesn't drink much, so the 2 Scotch and sodas sent her into the no worries land. We laughed and told stories --a magical evening.

Wifey, my sister, and I then headed home, knowing we had a 5 am alarm to leave the house in time to get Sue to Lauderdale airport for her FLL-DWF-FAT connection. I LOVE Fresno Air Terminal's abbreviation --who wouldn't?

I was deep in REM by 11, and then, 3 hours later, heard a distant ringing. At first, I thought there had been a power surge, which causes some rapid phone rings, which I've learned to ignore after nearly 11 years living in Villa Wifey.

But no --it was a regular phone ring.

I hate late night calls so much that I pay $5 per month for a service that only lets identifiable numbers to call my house. It has completely eliminated the occasional hang ups we used to get...

I answered. It was my ancient mother. She thought it was 2 pm, and was wondering why I hadn't arrived yet (she had been told I would stop by after dropping Sue at FLL).

Sue, sleeping downstairs in D2's room, heard the ring, too, and took over --trying to explain to Mom that it was the wee small hour of the morning...

Well, it did it for me. I was up most of the rest of the night.

I drove Sue to FLL, and we said our goodbyes. It had been a nice visit. Each time she comes to South Florida, we wonder if it's her goodbye to Mom, but Mom keeps on going and going --losing more of herself each week.

As I was driving out of the airport, Mom called --telling me she was now very tired, and not to come over. Ha. As if.

I drove to Delray, and learned that the delis don't open until 8 --I guess few people in the area work, and the oldsters aren't very early breakfast goers...

I waited at the Grammercy, and bought a few bagels and nova and took them to Mom's. Sure enough, she was fast asleep, so I checked her mail and made sure a brewing tragedy in her life (her care giver thought her parking spot was being "stolen" since the bumper painting project left Mom's space blank). No, assured President Irving Hershkowitz (his real name, of course), your mother's space is hers "forever."

Mom finally woke, and hungrily ate her bagel. I gently asked why she called me at 2 am, and she brushed it off. I then pointed to the outside, and tried to explain that she could call me when it was light out, and not when it was dark.

This was a reprise of Wifey's stern lessons to our Ds. Wifey, to whom sleep is more important than anything else, maybe even chocolate, trained the girls as toddlers that they were to stay in their own beds until it was "light out."

To this day, when I say goodnight to my Ds, it's "See you in the morning" and they respond "When it's YIGHT out!" in memory of their toddler speak.

Somehow, when explaining this to a nearly 92 year old, it's not nearly as cute.

So, Sue is back in the San Joaquin Valley, my oldest sister Trudy is home in Hypoluxc, and Mom is fading, fading, like the final scene in an old movie.