My Parents

My parents are considering giving up their land line to save money and relying on their "new" cell phone for communication. I use the term "new" very loosely. They've had the cell phone for over 5 years, but I can count the number of times they have used it on one hand.

Here's the conversation we had over the phone yesterday... or perhaps I should say I heard yesterday:

(Mama Bear dials phone number and hears them answer on the other end)
Grandma: How do I answer this phone?
Poppy: Don't answer it. What if it's someone we don't know? I don't want to waste my minutes on a wrong number. What number is calling?
Grandma: I don't know. How can I tell?
Poppy: Look at the window on the front.
Grandma: I already opened it, but I think the area code was 555 (misreading the number)
Poppy: We don't know anyone in that area code. Don't answer it. I'm not paying for wrong numbers.
Grandma: But it might be an emergency. What do I push?
Poppy: The green button.
Grandma: ok (click)

Grandma called me this morning. She said she wanted to practice using the cell phone. She and Poppy are heading out on a week-long bus trip with the senior citizens to see famous gardens in North Carolina. She tells me their bus is currently passing through our area so the call won't be long distance. Then she asks me to call my sister "E" back home and ask her to check in on my sister "S" to make sure she made it safely home from dropping them off at the bus station. "S" has only been driving for 34 years, so she might have gotten lost traveling those 3 miles back from the bus station. And Grandma can't call "E" directly, now that the bus is 2 hours from home, because that's long distance. I just say "Ok, Grandma. Will do." It doesn't matter how many times I've explained her plan is free throughout the continuous 48 states.

Grandma says they only took the cell phone with them in case there is an emergency and we need to get hold of them. Poppy doesn't want to waste the batteries, she tells me, so she is going to turn the phone off immediately after she hangs up. However, she plans to turn it on again every night at 7PM just in case we have an emergency and need to get hold of her.

I silently promise to only have emergencies this week between 7 and 8 at night.

It's taken her 73 years to develop this wisdom. Who am I to second guess it?