reality tv

When I visit, I usually help Mom read her mail. We read and re-read her cards and letters that she gets. Sometimes the new mail on her table are the letters from last summer. But it's all new news to Mom. She won't let me throw away a single scrap of paper, not even the ripped and wrinkled envelopes.

Last week Mom got a nice letter from a dear friend, Liz. Someone she's known since they were both young mothers together in the church community.  Liz also included a beautiful family photograph. It was of she and her husband, their children and their spouses, and all the grandchildren.  Her family, like so many of our families, is spread across the whole country. It must have been wonderful to have them all together.  Mom recognized Liz and husband (which was great) but she could not recognize any of their kids. Well, of course these "kids" are now in their 40's and 50's, not the 8-10 years old she thinks they should be.


My mother's tv/dvd player is no longer hooked up to receive tv signals. That's fine with me, because she was becoming agitated and upset by what she saw on the daily news programs. Mom can still play her dvd documentaries and movies, and sometimes she still remembers how to do that.


Last week, one evening, she watched the movie Jumanji, the dvd box was still beside her tv.  An exciting fantasy adventure movie, filmed in one of our favorite cities, Keene. So the setting of the movie is VERY normal New England scenery.  The house is a very normal New England Victorian home. The streets and buildings are very much like what Mom might see any day in town. But what happens in the movie is VERY much not normal.  Lions are in the kitchen, rivers run down the staircase, jungle vines grow through the living room windows, and giant spiders attack the actors in the attic. In the movie, the little brother, turns into a half boy - half monkey.

Mom grabs my arm and pulls me close, she wants to whisper a secret to me, her eyes are checking frantically for others who may be listening.  There is no one else in her room, but she wants to be secretive.  She points to the photo of Liz's family.  "One of Liz's children is an animal."
"Oh?!"  I say, not knowing how to respond.
"See... they have a monkey in their family."  She says it like she thinks poor Liz has been tricked, and doesn't know what's going on. She's pointing at the picture.
"Nooooooo, Mom, that's one of Liz's grandchildren..." with short dark hair, just like the little brother in the movie.

Yikes!!! Mayday! Mayday! Divert! Divert!
I think that dvd is going away.