"Let's use your phone; my battery's dying," I tell him.
A few minutes later, I hear her voice coming from the study. Sitting in my office chair behind my husband's, head on his shoulder, our daughter fills the phone screen, coffee in hand and wearing a new Twinstars sweatshirt. We video chat for awhile about her finances, our dislike of Daylight Savings Time (they don't do that in Japan), her work and band practice, the neighbor moving, her upcoming sightseeing trip.
Our college boy, home on spring break, enters the room and I give him my seat so I can finish making dinner. They start talking video games. Pretty soon my husband leaves the study; we eat while the siblings continue chatting and laughing for another half-hour.
I think back to my college days here in Texas while my parents and brother lived in Germany, and all those overseas tours we had together, leaving our extended family behind stateside. We were connected by mail and infrequent, expensive long-distance phone calls, carefully timed.
Our Texan Sunday night, her Japanese Monday morning--thanks to technology, we can be in the same digital time zone with our daughter any time we wish. The world has indeed gotten smaller--and I am grateful.
Such a sweet slice about your family! I'm an Indonesian girl and my family's back in Texas. We also have Facetime dates like this. :)
ReplyDeleteIt helps so much, doesn't it? Not as good as a hug in person, but definitely more connected than the "old days".
DeleteMy oldest daughter is in Colorado which feels far from CT, although not nearly like Japan and Texas! We have similar moments where we have screen talks, and you've done a great job of capturing them!
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