It's difficult to live thousands of miles away and still try to watch your nieces grow. Whenever I hear one talk or cry in the background when I talk to my sister on the phone I feel my heart tear a little. Skype can help, even if it's not a complete solution to the problem, it does help. And I can't tell you enough how I love to hear my sister tell me that she hears, "Aunt Mere, Unk E, 'puter" as my oldest niece taps on her dad's laptop.
But what I don't want to do is to focus on the negative, on the fact that I'm far away and so using the computer to stay in touch is the best way; instead, I want to sing Skype's praises and express my gratitude towards my family for embracing technology and buying webcams and/or downloading Skype so quickly so that we can converse more often and easily. And web cameras are not just for bringing families together, they're a great way to keep in touch with friends as well as making free international calls. I know I talked to the travel agent who bought our plane tickets via Skype and neither of us had to pay a dime.
As a result, I have compiled a number of reasons why I'm thankful for Skype and some of my favorite experiences so far using this program to stay in touch with people that I love.
1. I can watch my infant niece experiment with her vocal cords, learn to crawl, and smile as she sees and recognizes my face.
2. I cannot get enough of my eldest niece screaming, "look Aunt Mere!" or "Where's Unk E?" or showing me the dinosaurs and Mickey and Minnie dolls we bought here when she came to visit us. And of course hearing her get excited about Shamu is exciting. And of course, hahahahaha, one day she even yelled out, when seeing E just in shorts, "Unk E is naked!". She's toooooo cute! (and funny)
3. We were able to have our Brazilian Christmas on the 24th of December and then wake up on Christmas Day on the 25th and open presents with my parents and my youngest sister via Skype. They were in New York and we were here in Florida. Priceless. I felt like we were all in the same room (almost).
4. I think it's funny when my sister jokingly put my eldest niece in front of the computer once and said "watch her" and acted as if she were serious and was going to leave the room. I wish I could babysit.
5. My best friend from Manaus has recently moved to Azores, yet we can still talk and joke as if we were sitting in her apartment like we have so many times in the past. Her husband and son can join in on the fun and they can taunt my husband by talking about all of the delicious food from Manaus that he misses so much. We just laugh and remind each other of all of our dear memories.
6. I can talk to my mom and stepdad, and youngest sister. Or I can watch them get up, walk away to play the piano and/or sing, and hear them cook and yell from the other room. It almost makes me feel like I'm right there with them.
7. There have been wonderful conversations with one of my best friends who lives in New York, and who I miss greatly. While talking to her I've been able to speak with her sweet mom, her sister, and niece and nephew. It's been fabulous "seeing" them all!
8. And finally, Skype is an excellent way to ensure that my nieces remember who I am and how much I love them.
I'm forever grateful that my family understood the importance of Skype to me as I live away from them and especially as we know we will soon be even farther away. And I don't even feel silly hugging the computer and acting like I'm going to bite my niece's finger off because I know she loves it by the way she laughs out loud for half an hour each time.
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