5 days. 2,000 miles.Last Saturday, June 30   - Janie, my sister, calls with the news of Aunt Nellie's death. This was not unexpected news, Aunt Nellie was diabetic and had a weak heart. Her condition had worsened over the last year and everyone knew it was only a question of when.I called Mom. "How are you doing?" She was a little teary. "I've been thinking a lot about her. It's hard to believe my baby sister is gone."“You aren’t still thinking about driving out there are you?”  (I've already commented about this - see journal entry for July 1.) “No.”“Good – I’m coming out, I’ll take you down. Do you know when the funeral is?”“Not yet.”“I suppose Janie will find out.”Janie was indeed the one who passed on that information. She has more or less become Message Central for our family, ever since George and I gave herThe Cell Phone.Two summers ago we decided that for the extra $10 a month we could afford to put Janie on our mobile family plan. I made a refrigerator magnet for her outlining when the free minutes were (otherwise she could talk me into bankruptcy). She already calls our parents daily – and since they are now 88 and 80 I wanted to give her a way to stay connected to me that wouldn’t cost either one of us prohibitively.Well!At first she was so delighted with the thing I got 14 voice mails a day. Once the excitement wore off we negotiated it down to twice daily. Most of the time she leaves me voice mail – I call her back every few days or when the messages sound like she needs to talk NOW. It’s been good – I have a much better window into how she’s doing and what she’s thinking about.What I didn’t anticipate was just how much use she was going to get from the phone. She’s figured out which relatives are on the same phone plan (and therefore a free call) and who she can call after nine or on the weekends. A recent bill showed about 2,000 minutes of use – all during the free time – on her phone.At first I worried that she was being a pest, but this has not been the case. She’s learned how to keep messages brief(er) and repeats herself a little bit less. She stays connected with her network of friends when she travels. AND… because of the nature of her neural atypicality, she’s really good at relaying a message exactly as she hears it even if she doesn’t fully understand it.Which means, during the recent crisis with the death of Mom’s sister, Janie has had the role of Communications Officer. Because she’s a fan of the old Star Trek series, I teasingly called her Lt. Uhura. She giggled. Janie stayed in contact with all six of Aunt Nellie’s adult children, passing messages and helping them coordinate information.One of these messages comes to me around 5:00.“Brian, the viewing is Monday night from 4 to 8, and the funeral is Tuesday morning at 11:00. Do you want the address for the funeral home?”“Sure, let me get a pen.”  I hunt briefly. “Okay.”She gives it to me number perfectly – later I look it up online so I can MapQuest directions. Thanks to her I found it right away.“If you want to know more you better ask John (one of the cousins). Got his number?”A couple of phone calls and a little arithmetic later it occurs to me that if I’m going to drive my parents, who live a 10-hour drive from my house, to the funeral, a three-hour drive from THEIR house, I need to be on the road… TOMORROW.I wander the house in concentric circles, ADD making me start and forget that I’ve started several tasks all at once. Cook and bag four days of food (got to stay on my diet), pack clothes and electronics (what, leave without the laptop, are you kidding?), contact friends who can put me up for a couple of nights, iron the funeral clothes, pack workout clothes (four days without the gym? eek!), find sleeping bag and pillow (in case I need to sleep on the floor, a distinct possibility)……at midnight I have done as much as I can make myself do and go to bed.   - to be continued -