Voice Memos

I've decided that the best thing about living at home this part year has been the time that I have gotten to spend with Barberree, my grandmother, my only living grandparent. For the longest time, I have told her I want to record our conversations and later write a book based on them. We talk about everything from social and political issues to cooking and crafting. I even had the idea of a project titled "You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks" with all the things that we taugh Barberree how to do in her nineties, including make cheese and play solitare on a computer. I did sense that she probably wouldn't like the title of the project, which is why I ultimately gave it up. Unfortunately for me, she is definitely not into the idea of being recorded in any way. As she gets older, she comments on how she barely remembers the past and just tries to worry about one day at a time- a good motto, although a little morbid considering she is 94 years old.


Today, when I was having lunch with her on my day off, she actually told my mom and I that: "I'm the only one around here who knows how to use the damn thing (her dishwasher). I have to go down and run Alice's for her all the time." (Important note: Alice is 15 to 20 years younger than my grandmother.)

She may have caught on to the technology of a dishwasher, but she has very little interest in a computer and probably can't fathom the idea of my iPhone having Voice Memos... After a comment like today's, I can't pass up another opportunity to capture Barberree for all of eternity, and, lucky for both of us, she won't realize I'm doing it :)

*Since mastering solitare on the computer, Barberree has moved on and abandoned the technology all together. So, I can safely write about secretly recording her because she doesn't surf the net or read her granddaughters' blogs.