Geriatric Paranoia

I'm experiencing a visit from the 'rents as we speak. Sometimes I'm proud of them for being (relatively) techno-savvy and sometimes it just scares me. I think there must be some kind of instinct that kicks in after about age 60 that makes people more susceptible to e-mail hoaxes and the like. I've tried to introduce them to Snopes.com. I've tried the tactic of refuting the panicked forwards they send me (Um, don't you think if someone kidnapped you and harvested all of your organs, you'd bleed to death before you woke up the next morning to make that 911 call?). Still, they're a wee bit gullible.

I don't need to know that my purse carries more E.Coli than a package of fresh spinach. All these years it's been carrying that E. Coli and I've lived in harmony with it. Don't gross me out about it now. Ignorance is bliss.

Anyway, last night my mom sprung a new one on me. Are you ready for this? We drove over to Dixie Cafe for dinner. My dad pulled into a handicapped parking space and they began rummaging around for their handicapped parking tag that hangs from the rear view mirror. My mom spotted it at last and lovingly put it on the rear view mirror. As we started walking down the sidewalk, my mom (in her best accusatory voice) asks my dad if he locked the truck. He said, "No, why?" This is where it gets good! My mom said, "You better lock it, I don't want anyone stealing my handicapped hang tag!" I busted out laughing. Just one of the many times in any given day when I wonder if I've been transported to some kind of alternate universe. I asked her why she thought someone wanted to steal her handicapped tag and she said, "I see people all the time with these tags and they aren't handicapped at all. They're bound to be stealing them from somewhere!"

Anyway, my cousin is freakin' awesome. She's got Down's Syndrome, right? She's so funny though. She LOVES music and loves to dance and sing. We were watching Celebrity Duets (I couldn't handle us sitting around in silence anymore, I had to turn the TV on) and my cousin just started bobbing her head and really getting into it. A few minutes later, she walks over (like the music has lost its hold on her) to her bag that's sitting on the floor. She bends over to pick up the bag and starts shaking her booty in this brief little dance. She didn't even realize she was doing it, but it was all we could do to wait until she left the room to start laughing. It was so cute.

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Jenny!