Update to my uncle's trip to the hospital: When I returned home I got a call asking for my Grandmother. I was at the computer, so I picked up using the phone next to it, which always has scratchy reception due to its close proximity to both the desktop and the central HVAC.

She called for Grandmother. "What?" I asked through the static. "Grandmother!" she cried.

Hey, lady, I don't need to get yelled at. Grandmother was outside re-planting the flowers she told me to do yesterday because she thought I fucked them up. I didn't want to talk to her again after she yelled at me, so I decided to go back to the phone and tell her she's busy and call in about 10 minutes.

Yap-yap-yap and blah-blah-blah, she sounded like she was talking to herself about seeing if she could call back. I gave up: "OK, you need to talk to her so damn much, I'll go get her." And I went upstairs, grabbed the cordless, went outside and gave it to my Grandmother.

Little did I know that the person I cursed at over the phone wasn't one of her friends who wouldn't hold cursing at him or her against me because he or she can't speak English, but was actually my aunt, the woman married to my uncle who was in the hospital. Whoops.

When I saw her when I visited the hospital yesterday afternoon, I apologized. Glad she let it slide.