My first experience with Skype

I was recently separated from Adam now that he is living with his dad down in Florida. For two whole months I struggled with not seeing his cute little face in the morning, his ways and means to get something he wants, and the daily talks we used to have about how his day was and the cute ways he would portray the stories that happened to him that day.

For two months I heard more goodbyes than any other word in the English dictionary from Adam on the phone, when there was always something more interesting to do than hold an electronic device to his ear. For kids it's all about "out of sight, out of mind" as far as I can tell, and to me this conversation medium always teetered on the edge of "this can't be enough".

A couple of days ago I was talking to a friend Mr. Dickens who also has a young son with a separation situation similar to my own. When I asked how he sees his son one word came out of his mouth, "Skype!" Every two weeks there's a scheduled "visit" where my friend reads a book that his child's momma holds up to the camera. For an hour every 2 weeks his son gets to interact on a more intimate level than a phone call.

I began to think this was a great idea, and I was right. Downloading skype to my Mac was superbly easy, the built in camera in my Powerbook hooked up right away, and after a brief technology-not-working-when-you-most-anticipate-it-to-work interlude, my son was on my screen waving and screaming "MOMMY ARE YOU ON INERNEDDD??"

Mine eyes did not deceive me. There he was. In his alligator pajamas, hair all a mess from sleeping, bright little eyes staring into the camera. The first words out of his mouth were "Mommyyy I MISS youuu!" For a blissful half hour past his bedtime, Adam went through show and tell about his toes, his mohawk, his new computer game, a picture he drew with glitter glue. He also left the camera twice, once when he announced "Mommy I need peepee" and the second when he whispered "uh oh Mommy I need go numa two." My eyes were hungry for his sweet cheeks after 2 months. My own cheeks were aching from smiling into the camera for  half an hour.

So to end this monologue, I must thank Skype for offering this service, and a grateful single parent has been able to bridge the distance gap between her and her beautiful child.