Lifestyles of the poor and nameless

I usually talk to my mom twice/day. She gives me a "wake up" call in the morning. I used to answer, but recently, since I go to sleep pretty late, I just let the phone ring. She'll leave some message along the lines of "it's 6:30am, aren't you going to get up?" Errr..no. If I don't catch up with her during the day, she'll call me later at night. I feel guilty about the fact that I resent these phone calls sometimes. For all intents and purposes I'm grown and live on my own, but I still have to "check in" with my mother. It feels a bit oppressive at times.

My parents have been on vacation for a little over a week. I don't get any benefits from this, since I live 2 states away (my 2 brothers are home alone, enjoying my parents' absence). I was glad to break free of the daily check-in. As the week wore on, I found myself wanting to talk to my mom and share the highlights of my week with her. Because her cell phone is bootleg, she could make calls but had difficulty receiving calls...and she never checked voicemail, so I couldn't really get in touch with her. I became a slave to the morbid thought that my parents will pass away eventually and then I'll never be able to "check in". :-(.

I was happier than a kid in a candy store when they called yesterday. I didn't even mind my dad's boring stories about some electronics problem he had. Parents: can't live with them, can't live without them.