Years ago, living an ocean away from family members, the only time we received an overseas phone call was when someone died.
At boarding school we were allowed one phone call home a week. There were only so many phones on campus we could use for international calls. Because others were waiting, we were on a time limit--or until we got cut off. Pre-war crank phones...first request was the local operator who then rang the international operator to "book" our call. Then it was back in line while we waited for the operator to ring back.
The house we lived in my senor year in high school didn't even have a phone. When I went back several years later, it was a shock to hear a phone ringing! Our number? Oliotokitok 81. I had to put that on my "next of kin" paperwork for my Navy enlistment paperwork (along with a map to find the house...Turn off the Nairobi road, head up the mountain, turn right at the gate before the border post. Be sure to honk and the guard will come answer.)
My children are among the first generation of video phone calls. They've always had Skype. My mom would read bedtime stories to my son from an ocean away. My daughter's first steps were witnessed via Skype. For them, it's a perfectly normal way to communicate!
Tonight they got to chitchat with their dad who is currently elsewhere. Nothing can replace daddy hugs and snuggles, but this certainly makes the separation more bearable.
2 comments:
I've been writing a dutch blog about my experiences growing up abroad and wrote about this just a week ago or so. Those phones! and letters! Times have changed so much and I still don't feel that old.
Thank goodness for skype to communicate with a daughter in India and a sister in Liberia and a brother soon to be in Curacao!
It's strange to look back and see the way communication technology has evolved in my lifetime. When my family lived in England when I was little, we did not have a telephone either. When we first moved back to the US, the phone was a strange and new thing for me! Now, I carry a phone (and the internet) on my hip with me everywhere we go. While I like the accessibility, sometimes I miss the "old days" when if someone wanted to get in touch they had to knock on your door. :)
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