So Long

Four years we decided to get iPhones.  So we went to our cell phone service provider and got them.  I was even talked into getting the iCare package...I never get insurance on anything.  Seeing as it was close to Christmas, we were somewhat worried about a larger than normal cell phone bill, but the service representative assured me that the first bill would not come until after the first of the year because of when the billing cycle was set up.  Imagine my surprise when just a week late, I received a bill for close to $400!!!!  I called the customer service number to complain and get everything straightened out.  I was told that there was nothing to be done, but I could return the phones and leave the company if I was that upset about the situation.  I was seeing red at that point.  It was perfectly acceptable for employees to lie to customers.
I should have left.  I did, however, just pay half of the bill then and half of the bill after Christmas.
Eight months ago, I started receiving upwards 7 to 10 telemarketing phone calls a day.  Even though I was on the Do Not Call list and told the callers to not call me again, I was constantly getting calls.  I would receive  phone calls at 8 in the morning and 10 at night.  I went to my cell service provider to see about changing my phone number.  I was told that it would not be a problem.  It took less than 10 minutes.  Again, imagine my surprise when I found out that I was charged $10 for changing my number.  No one told me that!  I called to complained and was told that I should have known that....how?????
Four months ago we decided to get rid of the iPhones.  After researching we decided to switch to the Galaxy and stay with our current provider.  We were told that we could buy the phones outright for a certain price without changing our plan or going back under a contract.  We had unlimited everything.    Imagine my surprise....probably not surprised by now.....when two months later my bill increases by $30 dollars.  I go to the store to find out why.
And here's what I find:
I am back under a contract and the new cost of my plan is $80 instead of $65 per phone.  We were lied to again.  To say that I am mad at this point is an understatement.  And here's how the problem was fixed:  We had to return our Galaxies, but we could not get the iPhones back because they were sent to the factory (probably to be someone else's refurbished phones).  And everything would be restored to the way it was the day we purchased the Galaxies.  My husband, who didn't need a phone due to having a work phone, got out of the deal free and clear. I, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.  I had to purchase a slider non smart phone and pitch a fit about having to pay for a smart phone plan to get that changed.
The next day I went to another provider.  Bought a new iPhone with a better plan.  Returned to my previous provider to return the slider.
Never back me into a corner.  I do not have to do business with anybody.  I am the customer.  You, my friend, are not the only show in town.

Memories Are Not Forever

I didn't think turning 40 would affect me....no other birthday has affected me.  Age has always been just a number.  I have always lived according the principle that you are only as old as you feel....and I have never felt old at all.
But the older I get, the more I miss my mom.  I realize now what she went through as those years ago.  She lost her mom as a younger adult with two small children.  Although she had a great relationship with her mother-in-law, sometimes a girl just wants her mother.
There are so many things I want to ask or just simply say to her.
I wish we had been honest with each other in the early stages of the disease.  I wish we had taken advantage of the days while they lasted.  I wish we hadn't refused to acknowledge that something was wrong.  I wish I had wrote down all the questions and had the courage to ask them.  I wish I had recorded the answers.
My son will never know his Nana.  His memories of her will only be of in the hospital as he calls it.  He will never know how much she loved the idea of him.  How much family meant to her.  How much she loved children.
She will never be able to help me raise him as I am so clueless. I can never ask for her advice.  I can only rely on my memories and what I think she would have done based on what I know of her.
No one can fully understand the wickedness of this situation until you have traveled down this road.  It is a road I truly hopes no one ever has to walk.  As my mom lies in a bed slowly dying, she was taken from me years ago by  Alzheimer's.  We wasted this critical early years by pretending everything was ok.  We should have been documenting our lives for later.  We should have been preparing for heartache.  I have very little left of my mom.  I have a lot of memories, but...as I know all too well, even those are not guaranteed to last forever.
I wear purple for my mom who I said my good bye too last April.  She didn't know who I was when I waved and said, "I love you Mom."
I can walk into her room anytime I want too, but my mom won't be there.  She hasn't been there in a long time.  She is no longer lying in that bed.  Her soul...her mind left a long time ago.  What is in that bed is just the shell of who she was.
Purple was her favorite color.  It has always been mine.  Now it means even more.