Thursday, December 1, 2011

What do you say?

I don’t mean when it comes to the here and now,  I don’t often have any difficulties coming up with something to say, even if half the time it’s dreary drivel.

Like right now!

What I’m talking about is one of those chores that I feel I need to do from time to time,  as relates to keeping in touch with certain outlying members of my family.   By “outlying”, I mean geographically. 

Most everyone has internet.  Even one of my brothers who has a hobby farm in rural Annapolis Valley uses Skype to see his grand-daughter way out in Washington State from time to time.  By the way,  that previous statement would be like me saying, “Yes,  tomorrow we’re going to the moon”,  and meaning it.   It was not too many years ago that there wasn’t even a hint of a computer in their house,  so I’m always ever so slightly amazed at these technological developments.

See, Christmas Card season is upon us,  and the question always come up,  “Aren’t you going to put a letter in that one?”. *groan*  This is for another brother who lives in a remote little spot way down past Digby. (Nova Scotia).

It’s a little place called Meteghan, and I have been known to use some colourful phrases to describe it,  but I won’t be putting any of those here.  That would just be mean.   He doesn’t have internet.  I think he has a phone,  but since he’s as deaf as a post,  calling him would be fraught with frustration.  Even when he had a hint of hearing say,  ten years ago,  the timbre of my voice was such that entire chucks of speech would be missing.  I gave up.

So earlier today,  I sat down here to write him a brief letter.  (funny,  but the German word for letter is “Brief”,  neat, huh?)   The tricky bit is of course,  you don’t want to end up with one page and a bit,  or even (God forbid) two pages,  and a bit,  since these are printed pages after all,  so you have to try to get whatever it is you want to say into the body of a reasonably full page.   That is of course,  if you have anything to say at all.

Here’s the thing.   Many years ago,  when I was perhaps in my teens, it wouldn’t have been too much of a stretch to say that I had looked up to this particular brother.  He seemed to have it together.  Or so I thought.  I mean,  he was always buying and selling stuff,  and making money (or at least I thought),  and that was the way it was for a number of years.   Skip ahead a few years,  when it just so happened that Travelling Companion was working on her degree in Economics  (Honours,  by the way) and he came to our place for a visit.  At some point during that visit, he basically let on that he didn’t think that that sort of higher education was worth the effort.    Hm.

I don’t remember exactly what he said,  but I remember standing there watching my estimation of him sadly fall to the floor. 

So do you see my problem?  What do I say to the guy? Do I ask, “Hey, how’s life in that shack you’re living in?” (and it is) “Did you get enough wood cut for the stove?”  “It’s sure nice here in Vienna.  We just went to an opera, (took the BMW of course)  and MAN was it FAN-TASTIC”.  

Again,  that would just be mean.  Although I have been tempted.

Talk about “writer’s block”.  Holy Moly. 

I did send off a letter last January I think it was,  since I didn’t put anything in with the Christmas Card.  My bad,  I know.  We DID get a Christmas Card from him and his lady friend,  so that was something,  but when it comes to getting any kind of response to a letter,  it’s a big black hole.    One time,  I even sent a letter to the other brother up in the Annapolis Valley,  since I had heard that they were paying a visit to take their semi-annual bath,  and figured if the letter were hand delivered,  then at least I’d know it had arrived.   Still no response.

That’s probably just fine and dandy in the grander scheme of things,  since the last time he ever wrote to me,  it was a 12 page hand scribbled bunch of rambling gibberish written in PENCIL.   This was when we were living in Puerto Rico,  and that letter arrived at our house in Burlington.  Not really understanding the difficulty involved,  I asked my daughter if she would please transcribe it into an email and send it to me.  She’s never forgiven me.   In hind sight I think she would have been more willing to clean out the gutters on the house instead,  even though she’s deathly afraid of heights.   Just a hunch.

Anyway,  I got that chore out of the way for another six months or a year.  We’ll see.  The rest of the Christmas Cards are still sitting on the table.

 

I see by my trusty word count thingy that we’re getting dangerously close to the “snooze zone”,  so that’ll be it for today.

 

Keep those sticks on the ice.  And it’s probably a good idea to be careful what you say?

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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5 comments:

  1. Hubby and I were having the Christmas Card discussion this morning. I vote no but he thinks we should send some. But when he says we should send some that means me. So we'll see what happens.

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  2. You know, just because someone does not live as we do, does not mean that they are wrong. Maybe this is a lifestyle that is "right" for your brother. Maybe he enjoys it. We really don't know. Some people think we are cracking up because we want to full time! Wouldn't this world be boring if everyone all like the same things and did the same things? Just love him anyway...with no expectations...no strings attached.

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  3. I was thinking christmas cards just yesterday...and I'm like Sandie I voted no because I dont' know when to stop and I get obsessed over it all..who to send to -find the addresses...I used to send every year..and my list just kept growing and growing..I thought it was great when people didn't have computers and long distance was very costly...now I just call everyone on a regular basis...

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  4. Had a family member express their scorn for my higher education by telling me that I was just "brainwashed by those bleeding liberals" teaching my classes. Talk about the epitome of insulting on sooooo many levels. Makes things more than a little awkward now....in a gee, I know what you really think of me sort of way. Things will never be the same, even though we still talk and see each other occasionally.

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  5. Christmas cards or letters..what ever works..me?.. I sent about 20 cards..that was it!..easy peasy!!..now onto getting that darn tree out of the box!!

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Well, I've been getting too many spam comments showing up. Just a drag, so we'll go another route and hope that helps. So, we won't be hearing anything more from Mr. Nony Moose.
I guess I'll just have to do without that Gucci purse.