We are a thoroughly modern family. Though Stef is separated by 2,883 miles¹ we are tight. She and Helaine speak multiple times every day. When not on the phone we connect via IM or texting.
We got a text message from her last night. A friend, a Vancouver Canucks fan, invited Stef to see the Canucks play the LA Kings.
She sent us the photo you see on the left. Nice seats. They were VIP seats. I mention that though I have to clue what that actually means or entails.
Here’s my theory about LA. There is only one type of seat: VIP. Everyone else in the arena is an extra.
After a while another text from Stef telling us Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed were a few rows ahead of her.
Helaine follows the Simmons family on Twitter. Sure enough Shannon Tweed had tweeted a photo from the game. I forwarded it to Stef a few rows back.
For Stef being in California does not the change communications dynamic with her family.
There was a time I could be out-of-touch for days or weeks at a time. That ship’s sailed.
I sometimes wonder what my grandparents would think if they could pop in on 2012? So much of what we do in life would be foreign to them. Cellphones, computers, GPS, immense flat screen TVs–none of those existed. Coast-to-coast phone calls over landlines were expensive!
We live a life they couldn’t have dreamed of.
It really feels we’re a lot closer than 2,883 miles.
¹ – 2,883 miles is Google’s estimate. They clock the trip at one day twenty three hours.