Communication

Today I am waiting for my phone to ring as my oldest daughter is hopefully going to have time to chat this afternoon. She is a Chemistry major in her second year at the United States Naval Academy, so our phone call time is precious and few. The day she left for the Naval Academy was without a doubt the hardest and saddest day of my life. We are a very close family and having her leave home was hard for us all. Somehow we manage to get through and I think the biggest reason is the ease in which we all communicate these days. Internet, Facebook, Email, Texting - how lucky are we? In any given day, I can go to my facebook page and click on my daughter's name and see how she is doing, look at new photos, and even instant chat with her if she is available. I think of the parents that had children go to Service Academies before the proliferation of emails and social networking and wonder how they ever survived. How did they go through weeks and weeks of no communication and no word on how their loved ones were doing? I shudder at the thought and know they had an inner strength that would rival the greatest warrior. I feel so blessed that I can email my daughter any time I wish and let her know all the happenings at home. She is really good at emailing back - even if it is a quick "Thanks! I love you mom!" I am always grateful to hear from her. We can all thank the Internet for making the miles between our loved ones shrink to a more manageable distance. Even though I miss my daughter each and every day, I feel lucky to live in a world where your dearest loved one is only one email away.