Pluggers by Rick McKee for March 25, 2016

I don’t phone my mother every day; she passed away in 2004. But I do phone my father, stepmother, brother (not much on the stepsisters) and a few extended family members once in a while.

Called my mom everyday until my Dad died three years ago. She gets a morning and an evening call now.

Luckily, I’m still at that stage where they call when they want to borrow tools.

My kids must think of me this way, and I suppose they will soon want to put one of those newfangled gizmo’s in my house they call a baby monitor.

My kids never call me. Of course the fact that we never had any may be a factor.

Actually that means that you did something very right when you raised that kid.

I’ve been wondering this for a while now: when did “Senior Plugger” become “Plugger”? What happened to all the younger Pluggers?

“Oh, and Mom, did you ever get to the lawyer and write that will? Just wondering….

Now that my mom is gone, I’m really glad I called her on a daily basis for those years. Our relationship grew so much closer, because we could relate as adults. I feel sorry for my siblings, who didn’t spend as much time (on the phone or in person) with our parents. They don’t have any kids either, and are regretting it to some degree. (Now that they realize they won’t have anyone to be a caretaker for them, if they can’t live by themselves.) Even though I’m the youngest, I’ve got the most health problems, plus a husband & sons to take care of, so I won’t be able to fill that role for them. Glad I took the time for my parents before they got dementia!