Turn On Your TV

The over day I received a call from my dad. He was audibly upset. He told me to turn on my TV. "Quick," he said, "*(&%$ (the ex-wife) has put a list of my things from the condominium on television. Why would she do that?"

It took me a second to realize that Dad was looking at his computer screen, which does sit right next to a television, and was confusing the two screens. Evidently he had opened up a document that we had created months ago and was looking at that. It wasn't easy to convince him that the document was on his computer and only visible to him.

From Dad's voice I could tell that he was agitated. So, I worked to keep my voice calm and measured. I explained, several times, that he must have clicked on something to open that particular document so that it was showing on his computer. Dad sought reassurance that the information was not visible to everyone watching their TV. Finally he chuckled at his misunderstanding, and went on to ask me about some other topics.

I like that about my dad. I like that he sometimes can laugh at his own foibles.... but I'm not always convinced that he really does recognize his misunderstanding. I'm thinking that perhaps he has learned, when he is confused, just to chuckle and shrug it all off.