Babygirl was walking Geordi LaDog yesterday. It was rainy and cold, and she was adjusting the music on her phone when 'Lil Ms Speedbump decided that a change in direction was Absolutely Necessary. Babygirl went down.
I can envision the slow-mo horror that followed as her phone skidded across the pavement, and teetered on the brink of a storm drain....and went down with an audible splash.
Sigh.
It takes quite a lot to upset Babygirl, but she had left for the walk already fed up with her niece and nephew (clumsy was endemic yesterday. Things got broken. Cleanup was grumpy). The outcome of the walk did not improve the tone.
She bought that fairly pricey phone with her own money two years ago. Since she knew she'd be stuck in a dialysis chair, she wanted one with a big enough screen to accommodate her visual limitations. It has all of her favorite apps, and it has the entry to nearly a dozen separate medical portals that enable her to keep up with her prescriptions, doctor visits and test results. Her independence is extraordinarily dependent on this device.
The phone is insured, but not covered for being flung down a manhole.
"I can't afford a new phone!" It's a legitimate concern. She's good with her money, but recently splurged on concert tickets and is planning a solo trip to California to visit Citygirl. There were understandable tears.
She knows that I can afford to replace the phone. She simply does not want to ask for a single other thing. She is tired of dependency. She has always had a boundless baseline of tolerance for the bitter rediculousness that life hands her, but we dipped below the reserves yesterday.
I let her know that I'd help, and rode it out. An hour or so of recovery and we went out to run errands. We needed stuff from Walmart and headed there first, and checked out phones there. I'd already looked at Best Buy so I had an idea of what kind of prices we were looking at. The Walmart sales guy was extremely enthusiastic about replacing that phone. I had to settle him down an little when I noticed his "enthusiasm" was creating massive anxiety for Babygirl. That notwithstanding, she got a very decent phone for a very decent price. We went to Best Buy for a case etc, and although she wasn't spoiled for choice, she came away satisfied.
Fortunately for her, her laptop and Google were of tremendous assistance with recovery of data and access. I haven't seen her this morning yet, but I'm going to guess there will be some residual "stress vibrations."
Yesterday it was, "I never want to go to Walmart again as long as I live."
I feel that.
DeeDee
