Happiness is...

Happiness is...My eldest son coming home today. He has been in the US for 15 months -- working and doing his exchange year at university.
I saw him in NYC when I went for the RWA Nationals but the time was way too short.
Having gone abroad for my Junior year of university, I knew there was no way that I was going to stand in his way but I'm just glad that he is coming home. After all he is my baby boy -- although now he is all grown up.
Skype has been invaluable over the last year. Phone calls are great but to actually see someone you love in nearly real time and talk to them, even though they are thousands of miles away is priceless.
About 15 years ago, my mother's partner  wrote a paper on the fact that soon people would be using  the internet to do video phone calls, particularly grandparents to grandchildren. He was thinking about my mother. Various people in the know in the Silicon Valley laughed at him and said -- it would never happen. At that time a super fast modem was 28. It could take 20 minutes to download a simple picture. And apparently there was no demand.
This weekend, my son FINALLY set my mother up on skype (at his request she got broadband) and so it has happened. I am very glad that I will be able to skype my mother as well.
Long distance families require things like video conferencing and I am glad that skype does such a great job.
But you still can't hug a computer...