Phone Calls to the Cottage

While we were up at the cottage, my cell phone rang twice. One phone call was from our little friend C, who called late one night before she went to bed. She apologized for "bothering" us but she said she couldn't stand the suspense. I told her she wasn't bothering us at all, because I thought it was truly sweet of her to call.

C wanted to know if the house was everything we thought it was, and she asked if we were going to buy it or not. I told her the house was everything and then some, and that my husband still had to talk to the owner and to the realtor. As I stood there on the back deck, C asked me to describe everything to her. As I did, I heard her crying on the other end of the phone. When I asked why she was crying, she said that it all just sounded so beautiful and she hoped that everything would work out. That child, that child.... she is so perceptive, so sensitive to everything around her.

C also asked me if she could plant "Miss Frankie's flowers" on the property up there, and of course I told her that would be a wonderful idea. --- When our friend Frankie passed away last year, I gave packets of Morning Glory seeds to all of her friends, asking them to plant the seeds in Frankie's memory, being that Frankie's favorite flower was the Morning Glory. C never planted her seeds because she couldn't find "the one right and perfect place."

Of course.... I took that poignant request to be another sign to buy that house. I still have those Morning Glory seeds.... I planted just a few of them in one of our flowerbeds, but they didn't come up. I took that to mean that Frankie didn't like that particular spot. Frankie's heart was immersed in nature. I know she would love it up on that mountain.



The other phone call while we were up there was from my sister. She called after she heard about the terrible storm and flash-flooding in San Antonio. She knew we were up at that house, but she didn't know how far it was from the storms.

While I was on the phone with her, and reassuring her that the mountain-top retreat was indeed far above flooding probability, and over 40 miles from San Antonio.... she told me the latest news from our mother.

She got a phone call from mom, who told her that she had just sold her house in Florida, and she's moving back to NY. My sister didn't know anything about this, so she was surprised by it all at first. But then when she got to thinking about how many people my mother knows in NY, as opposed to the few people she knows in Florida, and then it made perfect sense. She doesn't know where my mother will be living when she gets to NY, but my mother told her she'd let both of us know when she settles in. She told my sister that she won't be buying another house because she doesn't want the bother of a house.... she plans to rent something, most likely an apartment.

My mother gave my sister a message to give to me: "Tell your sister that if she tells those people any of my business, she will never hear from me again for the rest of my life." By those people, my mother means my dad and everyone in his family. I had to laugh at that statement..... I don't hear from my mother as it is, so her threat is meaningless. Her threat is also ridiculous, because no one in my father's family wants to know her business. Makes me wonder why my mother thinks her "business" is so important to the universe.

I'm glad that I had told my sister about the package that my mother sent last week... this way, it didn't come as a surprise to her when my mother called to tell her about that, and her impending move from Florida to New York. My mother also told my sister to tell me that another small package is on its way to me-- the second one will have old photographs in it.

Should be interesting to see what old pictures she's sending.