During my morning walk, I worked on stretching my left leg out fully on the push-off. My body held up. When I got home, I called JAWS to get information on what the implications were of the door key on the new Kia not working. I spoke to Tasha, the receptionist. She told me that they didn’t have a lot of information on electric cars.
Then I called Sandor. He had volunteered to deal with folks at Kia for me. I was concerned that I would have some man decide that I was a flaky old lady who didn’t know how to turn the car on. When I didn’t hear from him, I called him back to find out what was going on, and there was some other piece of information I had for him. He told me he had called, and the Service Department at Kia had called me back. But no. There was no record of a call from them. I called them. The guy who answered the phone knew who I was, even my address. He had the wrong number. He said someone would be out to my house within the half-hour. Wow!
While I was waiting, the house phone rang. I rarely answer that phone; they’re always cold calls. Today, I chose to answer it. Good thing. I had a telephone consultation with a doctor from Oahu about my macular pucker. Like the other ophthalmologist I spoke to, he said he wouldn’t recommend surgery for me. My vision now was something like 20/50. Surgery would only repair it to 20/40, and it was a six-month recovery. I risked a detached retina. He also said that if I were 59, he would anticipate noticeable changes in the following years. Since I was 79, my rate of change would be considerably slower. He felt that a retinal detachment resulting from the existing problem was thin, not impossible but unlikely.
Ophthalmologists from Oahu come over once a month to see people here. The last doctor who I saw had some unpronounceable name. I believe it is German in origin. I made no attempt to pronounce it and referred to her as the doctor with the weird name. Then I commented about his name being weird, Latino, and another doctor’s being weird, Chinese. I have no idea what possessed me. I tried to assure him I was joking and acknowledged that it wasn’t a very good joke in the current environment. I have to write this man a letter. I don’t want to leave a bad taste in his mouth caused by me. He has enough of that without my input. I would like to say it was me expressing my adverse reaction to the current situation. I have been imagining making sarcastic comments to those who support police violence by making exaggerated ‘supportive’ comments, hoping they would be understood as criticism. Obviously, that can only happen in the right context. People who I side with might misunderstand me, as this doctor did. Even worse, people I disagree with might interpret my comments as support for their biased positions.
I have been concerned about how minorities have been treated in this country since the 50s I went to an interracial camp. I was made aware that all things weren’t equal for all people long ago. However, even I haven’t been aware until the last ten years of how unequal things are. It presses on my gut. It’s painful for me, someone who isn’t directly involved in the situation, someone who has the full benefit of white privilege. Whatever my minority group is, and I do belong to a few, I haven’t experienced the full blast of group hatred. I have lived a very sheltered life.
The servicemen arrived promptly and were out in the driveway for a while. They were still there when I got off the phone with the good doctor. They told me that the starter battery had died. They showed me where it was in the car. It was weak because it had spent a lot of time sitting in the dealer’s lot. It is a 2019. The serviceman also assured me that the hybrid battery didn’t work the same way. This reassured me that I hadn’t destroyed the hybrid on my Prius by not driving it enough. The servicemen drove the car to the Kia service center.
Because I had dealt with the eye doctor and the Kia servicemen in a timely way, I was ready for my 10:30 Zoom tutoring. I had learned earlier that day that someone had tried to call my cell and hadn’t gotten through. I had already called the cell with my house phone and had a similar experience. I had the serviceman call my phone, and he ran into the same problem. I had dropped my phone on the tile floor yesterday. It all looked okay when I picked it up. I guess it wasn’t—something else to deal with. When I finally called T-Mobile, they told me that they were having trouble at their end, something with their transmission system. I can wait for another day or so. I do get texts.
I got a call from Kia saying that they didn’t have the battery in stock; they would have to order one. In the meantime, they would give me a loaner. Shortly, the car was in my driveway; they handed me the key.
I took a short nap. I had set the alarm for 1 pm. My original thought was that if I was going to drive my Prius to get to my 3 pm hairdresser appointment, I should give myself a good hour in case the car died on me. When the alarm went off a 1 pm, it finally dawned on me that I didn’t need to have an hour to get there. I had a working car sitting in my driveway.
On my way there, I realized I had forgotten a mask. When I opened the door to the salon, I announced my dilemma. Randee said they had disposal ones. I told her that I had received compliments on my recent haircut that week after five months. She had given me one hell of a haircut. I told her she could do what she wanted, as usual. She’s great; if I don’t like it, it will grow back. No worries. She left it longer on top after shaving the back and sides. I’m not sure, but I think she left those areas a little longer than usual too. There are a few strands of hair that hang over the shave section. I need to get it cut, or the top part gets too heavy. I look like I have a lid on my head. That section needs to be thinned as well as cut. All the folks that work in the salon are great to me. It’s fantastic being in a place where I am loved.
No comments:
Post a Comment