Staying Connected

I am sitting on the floor in Terminal K at the Chicago International Airport. I am waiting to board American Airline flight 90 for London. I am writing this, or typing this on my Inspiron Z laptop. People are walking past me as I type. The computer, my cell phone, my husbands Kindle Fire, and his cell phone are plugged into a power strip that we brought with us.  We want to have the maximum amount of power in our batteries for the eight and a half hour flight to London England.

The last time I flew to London was in 1978. I had a Eurorail pass, my passport, and clothes. Before I left I had given  my parents and my boyfriend the  addresses of the post offices in Madrid, London and Paris. They could mail us letters, but there was no other way to contact us. I was travelling with Cate, my brother’s girlfriend. She would eventually become my sister-in-law. I did not have daily contact  with my parents.  No cell phones, no e-mail. To talk to our parents in Canada, we had to wait for several hours behind other college students with backpacks waiting to talk to their parents at an international telephone exchange.

This morning at breakfast in the Chicago Terminal while my husband ate his sausage egg Mcmuffin with hash browns and a large diet coke,I ate a can of Tiny Tot sardines that I brought with me. I took a photograph of my sardines with my Sprint HTC Hero Phone, and posted it to facebook, with the message. This is my breakfast. Wish you were here. Nick said “ You can’t be serious.”  

With in seconds the photograph is sent.

I can call the children every day on the telephone.  I can write them e-mails, send them photographs immediately.

If I could only send my children a hug. Somethings are better done in person.