If you never turn it on? My Mom (81) went to the emergency room today. Fluid in her lungs leaking from her heart. She's ok for now. I started to write a much longer diary, and then deleted it as tl:dr.
She wasn't feeling well earlier, but it didn't seem like much. I called about 7pm, got voicemail, called again at 8:30 pm got voicemail, then got alarmed.
The thing is, my parents don't EVER not answer the phone. So I called my Aunt (Mom's sister) to see if she heard from them. She said they had been trying since about 6pm too.
We both got a bit alarmed, I pictured them in trouble in their house and called their next door neighbors, who have a key. Next door neighbor goes over, pokes around, finds the dog there, all upset, nobody home.
I called around several places, getting VERY upset, including my sister's place. Who berated me for being "alarmist". Well, hell, what if they were in trouble in there? For sure they didn't go out to go to a Christmas party.
Finally FINALLY my Dad called, says he took my Mom to the ER because she had fluid in her lungs and still had stomach pains. I said why didn't you call, he gets embarrassed, scrapes his toe on the ground, and says too much to do. I was imagining all kinds of things, them in trouble in their house, car accident on the way to the hospital, all sorts of things. So was my aunt. I told him very firmly "ok, I want a key to your house, and you can have a key to mine. We'll trade". And oh BTW, I want your cell phone number and you better keep it turned on, I don't care if it's a minor hassle to keep a cell phone charged".
I went back to a very basic cell phone from my smartphone due to the expense, but geez, you can still keep the thing turned on, what's the point of having one otherwise? I actually lectured him a bit, and he actually listened to me for once.
And my sister pisses me off. She doesn't seem to care at all. Like it will just all work out if you bury your head in the sand or something. She actually had the damn nerve to say the word "drama". I spent most of the evening worrying and that's where she goes.
What if they had been in trouble in there? I think I did the right thing. What the hell, I didn't call 911 and have the cops go over and break the door, although I was tempted to do it when we didn't hear for so long. What do you guys think?