My beloved daughters live on the opposite side of the planet, and we all lead busy lives. I appreciate the convenience of e-mail and free phone calls. With Skype we can even see each other, but calls usually have to be planned in advance to organise a time when we’re both awake and at home. One daughter plays Wordscraper on Facebook with me and I treasure that brief daily contact even if she’s asleep when I play my move and vice versa.
Early this morning I switched my home computer on to send an e-mail (not my usual morning habit) and there was a message to say a daughter was online on Skype. I immediately placed a call, which she didn’t answer, so I sent a Skype message. This elicited an immediate reply to say she was in a room full of people and couldn’t talk, and we had a couple more exchanges back and forth. Our e-mails usually pass each other in the night, and this ‘real time’ communication was a pleasant bonus. It might even inspire me to join the texting tribe.
‘Her instant answer was a thrill
dispelling early morning chill.”
