Monday 8 February 2010

I wanted to see you!

The best birthday present of all arrived yesterday - on her way home from her honeymoon. (They went to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia the cheap way.) My niece and her husband did a huge detour and a night's stopover just so that they could see her grandfather.
The rest of us said absolutely nothing about this. It was touch and go until the very last minute as her mother is seriously ill and they may have needed to go straight home. Frantic messages backwards and forwards from her family in Sydney reassured her however and she came to see "Granddad" because he had missed the wedding.
"I wanted to see you! Talking on the 'phone is not the same." And it is not. My father talks to her father each week. They usually chat for about an hour. My father 'phones my other sister in another state to reassure himself. That conversation is shorter but it keeps him in touch. It is not the same as seeing them. I wonder sometimes if we should get Skype, especially now there is a great-grandchild due. However, my father cannot manage basic computer skills and the thought of trying to teach him to use Skype fills me with mild alarm.
The two of them had a few precious hours in one another's company. They talked - stopping barely long enough to eat - and then talked some more. The questions came one after the other, unlike the shorter telephone conversations. It is much harder to respond when you do not see the person at the other end. There are all sorts of little cues that you miss. They held hands, shared the photographs stored in her camera and hugged more than once.
Modern technology is wonderful. It is amazing. It does extraordinary things but it is not the same as seeing each other. Most important of all it does not allow you to hug each other.

6 comments:

Old Kitty said...

Hi!

How true!

And such a lovely present for you and your father.

Technology may shrink the virtual world but there really is nothing like the touch of a hand, the feel of a kiss, the warmth of an embrace.

Take care

x

catdownunder said...

You too - one of these days I hope we can meet in reality and hold hands for a moment!

Rachel Fenton said...

Skype's grand but you're right - it isn't the same as a hug!

catdownunder said...

Does that mean your family back in the UK can see your children grow up though? I know I would want it for that reason if I was in your position!

Melinda Szymanik said...

there is no substitue for 'being there' but technology does provide the next best thing when there are no other options. And I do love that it enables me to meet and communicate with my fellow bloggers round the world :)

catdownunder said...

Oh, so do I - and there is always the chance we might meet more than virtually one day which just makes it even nicer!