Sharing technology

This week, as a preemptive award for smoking cessation, I treated myself to a much needed new Macbook. This is my first Mac with a built in camera, which at first I thought would be a useless accessory.

That was until I got the idea to video chat with my family. My mom has a similar laptop, and it is the natural destination of our technological journey. In the school year of '02-'03, I relied heavily on a calling card, a series of 20 some numbers, then the phone number, every time I wanted to call anywhere out of the county. Two years later, I had my own cell phone, but lacked texting capability. In July of '08, we all got iPhones and I recieved the first text from my dad and shortly after, from my mom.

Today, at 8:50am, my computer indicated that DonnieEspinoza (the AIM username I had created for them) had requested an audio chat. (I had to quickly get off the toilet to respond). My dad had figured out how to use audio chat from their iMac. After I told him to try the his laptop (the one with the camera), I waited ten minutes and I was suddenly speaking face-to-face with my dad. I had always assumed that video chat would be a mere novelty, but it turned out that speaking to my father after all these months was a little emotional. I took the laptop around the apartment for a quick tour, and when I sat back down at the kitchen table my dad was sitting with my grandmother, Tortilla Grandma.

I was aware that she had just been recovering from surgery, but did not anticipate that she would be using oxygen (strangely, a not uncommon sight for that side of the family). Grandma was thrilled. I imagine that in her impoverished, hard-working life, she could never have dreampt that she would talk to her grandson hundreds of miles away, looking at his face, on a device with no wires that weighs no more than 4lbs. We waved as though it was from a distance, but that felt awkward. The experience was intimate enough to evoke the impulse to hug.

I can't wait to talk to my mom and everyone else in the family, especially Grandpa. They'll love it.