Sunday Bubby Sunday 3

9:43pm here, 6:43pm in San Diego. No answer when I call. She must be drugged on sleeping pills.

10:02pm. I try again because I don’t like to let a Sunday go, and I can’t stay up much later. We had a late night out with friends last night and a busy week ahead. It’s possible I missed my window. I think they serve dinner at 5pm there, and then she probably downs a pill and is out for the night.

10:30pm. 1 ring. 2. 3. 4. About to hang up. B: Hello?

D: Were you sleeping?

B: Yeah.

D: Sorry! Do you want me to call another time?

B: No no. It’s alright. She actually sounds more awake than usual. What’s new?

D: What is new? I should have prepared something before I called. The fact is that I do need to prepare things to say before I call because there is little she can tell me about life at the nursing home. Unless she’s in a particularly talkative mood, the body of the conversation rests on my shoulders. Well, we’re going to see friends of ours in town from London tomorrow. They made a movie, and we’ve been invited to see a private screening of it.

B: That’s good news! I’m not going to get much further on that one, so I change the subject.

D: We went out with friends last night for dinner.

B: Where?

D: In Manhattan.

B: Who stayed with the little ones?

D: Asher’s pre-school teacher from last year. He was so excited. He absolutely adores her and misses her.

B: I bet.

D: We didn’t get to bed until about 2am, so we were pretty tired today.

B: Wow!

D: We went to an Argentinean restaurant.

B: A what?

D: (louder and slower) AR-GEN-TIN-NEE-AN, from Argentina!

B: What’s that like?

D: Delicious! Fish, steak, nice. And then we went to a comedy show.

B: Oh, that’s nice.

D: It was. But it was a very late night.

B: I’ll say.

D: We took turns with the boys today so we could nap.

B: That’s good.

D: Tuesday, I have my monthly meeting with my mother’s group. We have speakers who come and inspire us. And, we donate time and money to a local charity.

B: You do such interesting things. I wish I could say the same.

D: You did do interesting things. You had your own business! I wouldn’t mind having my own business.

B: Well, maybe you will some day. It has its good points and bad points.

D: What were some good points?

B: Well, you are your own boss and all that. But the bad point is all the pressure.

D: Did you enjoy it?

B: Not particularly. Cue subject change

D: The exciting news of the day is that we get a company to blow our leaves off of our lawn. They came the other day and made a huge leaf pile at the curb. The boys had a ball diving into and playing in the leaf pile.

B: Oh, I’ll bet.

D: I’ll have to send you some pictures of that. Did you eat already?

B: Yes.

D: How’s the diet going?

B: Oh, it’s not really a diet. The only thing that’s different is that I don’t get concentrated sweets. The rest is the same. You know I can’t lose weight on that. But, they stand on their own, and you can’t move them.

D: We went to services on Saturday. You’ll recall that it makes Bubby’s day when I tell her what a good Jew I am. Levi sang all of the songs. He’s officially brainwashed.

B: Laughing I’ll say!

D: I have a childhood friend who made an album of all Jewish music, and she sent us all the songs over email. The boys want to hear all the songs every night so they can dance around the kitchen.

B: I tell you. It’s worth a million dollars to witness all that.

D: Yes, it is.

B: Alright. Keep in touch.

D: Oh, I will.

B: And know that I love you.

D: We love you, too.

B: Ok, bye.

I tried to get a good video of the boys singing and dancing to said tunes, but by the time I thought to take out the camera, Asher was a bit wound up from an after-dinner treat, and Levi was too preoccupied with his challah. Yes, music AND videos on Shabbat. What if I told you we did all that stuff before sundown so the kids could have Shabbat before bed? It might be true.
Thanks to Liz and Jessica Zoller for the songs which have been a source of hours of entertainment.