Reach out and touch someone...
Today while I was grocery shopping, my cell phone rang. It was my little sister in California calling on her way to work. She does this every so often, just to chat and it's such a wonderful thing.
You see, Lil' Sis and I went for 15 yrs. without talking to one another. If you asked us why we would go so long without communication, I doubt either of us would have an adequate answer for that question. So I guess you could say it's beside the point. The real triumph is, we now relish phone conversations about everything from our family, our jobs and everything from home decorating to topics as mundane as what we cooked for dinner the other night. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a Good thing!"
As I was driving home from the grocery store, I began to marvel at this technology which provides me the opportunity to stay in close contact with my sisters far away in California. For the price of my monthly cell phone bill, I can talk to them whenever and for as long as I wish. I remembered when this wasn't always the case, that the cost of a phone call could impact your phone bill to the point it could make a serious dent in your checkbook. So a lot of times connections, important connections, we're never made.
When I was 10 yrs. old my mother moved to Chicago with my Step-Dad and Step-Sisters. I moved back in with my dad, step-mother and little brother and sister. Over the course of the 6 yrs. my mother lived back East, I saw her twice. Once when I went to visit for the summer and once when she came out to California and took me shopping and out to dinner. Communication during those 6 yrs. was severely limited. She wrote letters every one in a while and I wrote even less. She would call me on my birthday and maybe Christmas, but I can't really remember. Milestones which were important to a young girl going through Jr. High and High School went by without regard. I'm not complaining, just explaining... It just 'Is, what it Is.' Or, in this case, 'Was, what it was.'
So here's what got me wondering... How different might life have been if I'd grown up in the era of cell phones? I wonder if the accessibility would have made us closer. My relationship with my mother has always been strained and it may be in part to our lack of communication over the years. On the other hand, I'm curious if to know if teens today, faced with a similar situation, might find the convenience of a cell-phone relationship with a far-away parent less of a connection and more of an intrusion... Not that it makes a difference but it just got me pondering.
You see, Lil' Sis and I went for 15 yrs. without talking to one another. If you asked us why we would go so long without communication, I doubt either of us would have an adequate answer for that question. So I guess you could say it's beside the point. The real triumph is, we now relish phone conversations about everything from our family, our jobs and everything from home decorating to topics as mundane as what we cooked for dinner the other night. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a Good thing!"
As I was driving home from the grocery store, I began to marvel at this technology which provides me the opportunity to stay in close contact with my sisters far away in California. For the price of my monthly cell phone bill, I can talk to them whenever and for as long as I wish. I remembered when this wasn't always the case, that the cost of a phone call could impact your phone bill to the point it could make a serious dent in your checkbook. So a lot of times connections, important connections, we're never made.
When I was 10 yrs. old my mother moved to Chicago with my Step-Dad and Step-Sisters. I moved back in with my dad, step-mother and little brother and sister. Over the course of the 6 yrs. my mother lived back East, I saw her twice. Once when I went to visit for the summer and once when she came out to California and took me shopping and out to dinner. Communication during those 6 yrs. was severely limited. She wrote letters every one in a while and I wrote even less. She would call me on my birthday and maybe Christmas, but I can't really remember. Milestones which were important to a young girl going through Jr. High and High School went by without regard. I'm not complaining, just explaining... It just 'Is, what it Is.' Or, in this case, 'Was, what it was.'
So here's what got me wondering... How different might life have been if I'd grown up in the era of cell phones? I wonder if the accessibility would have made us closer. My relationship with my mother has always been strained and it may be in part to our lack of communication over the years. On the other hand, I'm curious if to know if teens today, faced with a similar situation, might find the convenience of a cell-phone relationship with a far-away parent less of a connection and more of an intrusion... Not that it makes a difference but it just got me pondering.
Labels: Family, Life, Observations
posted by EmBee at 9:40 PM
2 Comments:
I think about this too, but I also wonder if they will hit some sort of communication "saturation" at some point. I kind of feel bad that kids now don't know the beauty of being disconnected, or the rite of passage where the kids/teens in the house fight over the phone with that crazy "cord" thing.
all fair questions and food for thought indeed. whatever the case, i'm glad you and your sister found your way back to each other and savor the time you can communicste.
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