I'm cracking up about my mother. 89 in 1 month. And funny without even trying. [View all]

[Mira]

Here she is, a couple of months ago, soaking up sun.



So I have this wonderful alert ancient mother, whose body is falling apart while she learns more to sharpen her mind all the time. She lives in Germany. Thanks to a company called Tel 3 I can call her once a day and let her talk as long as she wants and it never costs me more than about 25 bucks a month total.
In our daily talks our subjects run the gamut of EVERYTHING,
and as she is in a room living alone in a supervised facility she has a lot of time to read. So I make suggestions. She is known in her neighborhood bookstore as the old lady who comes in and inquires about American books and if they have been translated. They love to assist her. The clerks, as are the clerks in most all German stores, are highly trained to assist customers. They go through long term training, get accredited, and then make a liveable wage.

I do say this to show up what we are NOT DOING here, and to prove that these guys like their work, and don't just thumb their nose at an ancient lady on a walker who requests the unusual.

Having set you up, here is what happened in the last two days.

I started reading "The Hunger Games". I told her that it's way out there when it comes to her reading experience, but why not try something new and futuristic? Plus, there is book one. And if she does not like it she does not have to buy books two and three. And if she does like it there is more to look forward to.

So I spell " Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games - (say, maybe it's called Hunger Spiele) and let it go.

Next day she says she's got it.
That the clerks thought that it may not be her cup of tea, that it's kind of a children's book. But she stiffened and said her daughter was no longer a child and said America was crazy about it. All ages. And she wanted to read it now.

Here comes what cracked me up.

She said,

"I put down the book and was really happy to get started reading. But first I picked up "Der Spiegel" and what did I see? A two page spread on that a woman named Susan Collins, a Republican, and another woman, Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat, helped solve the crisis that shut down the government in America.
Now I want to know the utter co-incidence of a woman who wrote such a best seller like this Hunger Games, and then solves America's most current problems too. She must be a Genius. That's an incredible thing. I could not believe my eyes."

Well,
I could not believe my ears, and had to set her straight. She was disappointed, but had to laugh, too.

I hope you find it funny to participate in a little levity between the continents when things aren't so funny/chummy between our countries for other reasons.