I took Mom and Dad, 88 and 89 respectively, to buy new cell phones. We spent two hours in the store before we realized we needed some passwords safely stored back at the house. So my Dad and I returned to the store with said passwords to complete the deal. After another two hours, we returned home with the new phones, but they didn’t yet work. More verifications, password resets, and two factor authentications would be needed. I got one working, but the other was packed back in the original white box for a third trip to the store the next day. I told Dad it was like Groundhog Day but he didn’t laugh.

The sweet salesman in the blue shirt assured us this could be solved, as long as we made a trip to a different vendor. “You might say to them that it’s a medical emergency” he said with a wink. We pulled into the parking lot to discover this vendor had relocated, but we were undaunted and found it. At this point, my father, who does not count patience as one of his spiritual gifts, was slightly irked. But now, I am determined. More waiting and more tapping and more questions. Six calls home to get the verification codes delivered to the land line, and then new passwords, IDs and facial recognition and fingerprints, some syncing and transferring. SOLVED.

I pulled out of the store parking lot, thinking we had emerged from the grave! Born anew with two cell phones that worked. These time-saving devices were now ours. We only had to spend 2 whole days getting them. Although we still needed to go to a Big Box store to buy the right charger, so they would work tomorrow. As we arrived home from the Big Box store, a technician came to the house to repair the Wi-Fi router, so that the cell phones would work. (My father told the technician about the party line in his childhood home. You just picked up the phone and told Mabelle who you wanted to talk to.)

I’m on the plane home from Texas now, wondering if my father will use the pharmacy app I loaded on his phone to order prescriptions to be delivered to his home. Aging requires an enormous amount of tenacity. And I’m also thinking about the six different folks under the age of 40 who skillfully and tenderly helped my 88 and 89-year-old parents. As these uniformed employees effortlessly tapped the screens, they created a bubble of grace around my Mom and Dad so that they can stay connected in a world that so easily baffles.

Grace and Peace,
Carla