Twenty years ago this summer, my dad was asked to be a mission president for three years in São Paulo, Brazil. I got to go along which was one of the most amazing and transformative experiences of my life. My three older sisters were all either married or in college, so even though they visited, they never lived with us for an extended period of time.
They'd call home on Sunday nights. If the phone was busy, they'd call the next Sunday. Just the long-distance part of our phone bill was always into the hundreds of dollars (which our family paid for, not the church). The idea of the internet was only starting to be conceived in a garage somewhere in America, and snail mail through Brazil's postal system was delayed, unreliable, and frustrating. I think my mother only received a single letter from my grandma. Some people we simply didn't hear from, and they didn't hear from us. It was as if our life back in the States didn't exist, and we had entered into a black hole. I came back from Brazil an awkward 11 year-old, wearing oversized World Cup shirts and Umbro soccer shorts. Let's talk about the best ways to help with that awesomely smooth transition into middle school...
But then Le Grand Internet happened, and communication has exploded. I stay in touch with people I met in Brazil but haven't seen in 17 years. I send photos of T to both sets of grandparents via text several times a week. It is miraculous. Ty often says that the whole idea of the internet and texting still feels like Harry Potter magic, and I completely agree.
So when my parents were called on another mission last summer, again for three years, it never had that "black hole" feeling to it. We skype with my folks several times a week, and T regularly points to the computer screen and says "Gra-pah" (much to "Gra-mah's" dismay). Even though they're not here to hold and kiss and tend my boy, he knows and loves them. He shows off his new words for them, he plays hide-and-seek, my mom sings songs to him and recites nursery rhymes, my dad mostly gushes. :)
The other day T and I were eating breakfast, I saw that my parents were online on Skype, so I called them. I didn't realize that they were online on my mom's iPad, and were driving around. They took the call, and turned the iPad around so that I could see the streets of Porto Alegre while they narrated what I was seeing. It made me cry to feel so close to them, so many thousands of miles away.
What a miraculous thing this internet is!
3 comments:
Has it been 20 years?! I mean, I know how old I am, and I know how old I was then, but the sound of 20 years is just... too much. How can it have been so much? Also, sometimes I have dreams that I am back in Sao Paulo, and I cry in my sleep to see those old streets again. If you go visit (when you go) your parents, take a million pictures. Please? Ok, I know you will.
It really is. When my parents moved to the States, now more than thirty years ago, they sent letters. My mom still has the letters her mom sent her. Now, I can just skype with my dad. It makes living in Germany a lot more bearable too ;-)
I LOVE SKYPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The internet and Skype and Magic Jack have made these past few months so much more bearable. It is so fun to check in daily sometimes twice daily at no extra expense. That is amazing you could take that picture of the streets of Porto Alegre. I think that is a little retorno just before we came to Rua Prostasio Alves. So fun to talk to you and little one.
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