I haven't heard much from my family lately.

I usually chat to my mum on IM every other day but haven't over the past week or so. She says she has done something strange to her computer and can't always get on line. She blames MSN but then she blames all her computer problems on MSN so it's hard to tell what's going on. My last email from her was a few days ago and she hasn't replied to one that I sent to her on Thursday telling her that I need some surgery. Minor but still enough to worry a mother and get a reply immediately.

My brother hasn't replied to any emails since September. I sent him a birthday card in October and have no idea if that arrived. He usually emails with an update on how Mum really is. I did phone him a couple of weeks ago, this was the first time I have been able to do this since my implant so it didn't flow very well. My brother is a man of few words anyway.

My niece hasn't posted anything on Facebook for over a week.

So, I'm a little worried. Last time they all went quiet was when Mum was admitted to hospital. Maybe they are just busy people, maybe my brother isn't well, maybe I am in their black books for some reason. Maybe I'm just worried about nothing.

If there is something wrong and they aren't telling me then they will have a good reason for not telling me so if I ring and to find out then I might find out something that I don't want to know.

Hah, I feel better for sharing. I still don't have a clue what to do, so probably will do nothing. What would you do?

I would try ringing again (? - not sure how things are going with your new hardware).
If that failed I would send countless emails, and I would not stop until someone responded! I hope all is ok, and that your fretting over nowt.

Charlie

...maybe it's all gone quiet because they're all on the way over here for an on-mass surprise visit?

I would use the electric telephone. Start by calling your mum, then go through the family until you get to speak to somebody. Don't sit there and fret; it's probably nothing to worry about anyway, and now you're worried that you might be worried....


(...but then we communicate with our olds by phone on a weekly/bi-weekly basis anyway, and only use emails occasionally for photos etc .... )

Both my mum and I are profoundly deaf and can't use the phone. Well I am trying to as I had a cochlear implant 4 months ago but it isn't easy to make out what people are saying. My brother is hard to talk to anyway, long silences and mumbing, so I need to get my husband to ring him you see. Hence all the emails

I may have to get him to ring my brother tomorrow to make sure all is well, but if my brother is under instructions not to say anything - this has happened before - then that makes it hard for him.

Surprise visit. Unlikely. Mum still has a surgical drain in her gallbladder and my brother rarely managed a 25mile drive to see us so isn't likely to be on a plane.

Will send more emails tonight to see.

Technophobes, mumbling brothers and deafness make you all work hard anyway to communicate - let's hope is just a bad combination of life getting in the way - hope everything is OK

Doh .... sorry; brain not engaged!

Did you live close to your Mum before the move? The reason why I asked is I lived away from home in the UK and I tend to go weeks without speaking to my Mum which is quite normal for me.

For here once the novelty of "omg she is in Canada" the msn/calls are less frequent, we are all busy people all of us working full time and my Mum being on shift work.

You may find people are busy, Me I would worry about it but that's why I explained the above.

If you are used to speaking to your Mum all the time, then I'd keep trying to call... etc.. in the meantime until you know anything then don't worry

Without knowing your brother I don't know if this would work, but if it was my brother I would text him saying you hope all is well but as you can't get in touch with mum & haven't heard from her in a while, please could he email / call to let you know the latest.

I try to 'talk' to her on messenger everyday. As she is deaf this is often the only way she can join in a conversation on equal terms. The same applied to me until recently. So it is alarming that she has not been around.

My brother does not do text messaging and I don't know his number

Well I sent a message via my niece's facebook page which she has ignored.

Mum sent an email not long ago to say her computer is still messed up and brother is decorating the living room and has also been sick with a 'very bad cold'. So that would be him out of commission for a while.

I wish I could get someone to sort out mums computer for her.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It was just my weird family being weird.

Am glad she has made contact to set your mind at rest a bit.

I was thinking that........surprise for xmas perhaps?

Get flederman to call and see whats going on. No point worrying yourself about this stuff, Could be something, could be nothing, so get your man on the case.

Could just be a case of busy lives and the novelty of you being overseas wearing off. I tend to call my family a lot more than they call me now.

Hi
Do you have any friends who live nearby who could pop round to check everybody is OK?