Skype

Of all the technological advances of the last few years, all the Ipods, the Ipads, the Iphones, the non-I things, of all of it, none can compare to Skype. When your children live far away, i.e. any place that's not just across town, Skype is a life saver. It's free, and just by installing a small camera on your computer (your kids already have a camera on their computer), you can actually see your kids and grandkids when you talk to them. And did I mention it's free?

Through the miracle of Skype, we saw Juliet take her first steps. On what started out as a normal Sunday afternoon phone call this spring, we innocently asked if Juliet was walking yet. Matt replied that she had taken a few steps at the creche, but he and Jeanne hadn't seen her walk yet. Just then Juliet took four or five halting steps toward her Dad, right in front of Jeanne! Jeanne ran to get her camera and I think I probably screamed something understated like, "She's walking! She's walking!" It was a little bit surreal, as if Juliet had heard me ask about walking, and decided to show everyone what she could do. I mean, we know she's brilliant, but...

What a gift we were given, seeing some of Juliet's first steps! Tom and I were positively giddy. We thought about contacting the Skype people and telling them our story; maybe they would want us to make commercials for them! "We saw our granddaughter take her first steps. What miracles will you witness?" or "See your grandchildren do amazing things without bothering your children with a visit!" But I guess Skype doesn't need any advertising; they seem to do quite well by word of mouth. I know I've given them a lot of free publicity.

It's a good thing we saw those first unsteady steps; Juliet went right from barely walking, to running. She goes everywhere at full tilt. We always marvel that she isn't bruises from head to toe.

We were so lucky to share a very special "first" with Juliet's parents. Seeing her take her first tentative steps was just a matter of luck; if we lived in the same town, we probably wouldn't have been that lucky. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though we live far from our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, the times we share are special. Ordinary or extraordinary, every hour spent together, Skype or in person, is cherished and relived in pictures, journal entries and our memories.