Skype Hype

My wife Sharon is down in Guatemala for a couple of weeks at the Casa Bernabe orphanage where she led a team of 37 youth and youth leaders. She has been planning and organizing this trip for nearly a year and I am so proud of her accomplishment. I talked to her earlier today and she said that the group was already fully engaged in their efforts to help out. Today they painted. And painted, and painted…

Last time she went there I missed her terribly and was disconcerted by a little civil unrest that she got caught up in (see “The Adventures of Sharon”). This time I was better prepared and I equipped her laptop with a webcam and installed Skype. I gave her a short training session before she left and we set a time to talk following her arrival the next day. It was just plain awesome to hear that call come in and then to see her smiling face when I answered (see picture).

I remember when I was much younger and I dreamed of the day when we would have video phones. Now we have the technology but hardly anyone uses them, self included. I wonder why? Is it the extra gadgetry or the complication of setting it up? [Shrug]. In our case it was a lot easier than using the cell phone. We would have had to call Verizon and get it set up and then she would have had to do some kind of download on her phone. After that we would have had to go to the bank and take out a home equity loan to pay for the air time. Skype on-the-other-hand is $free-ninety-five.

During our video calls I’ve felt much more connected to what is going on. There were youth coming in and out of the room while we were talking and my friends Trevor and Kim even joined in for a bit so I got to see them too. I could even see what the place looked like instead of just imagining it. It was way cool.

I wish I could have video calls with my dad and Becky in Kwajalein but they don’t have broadband there for the masses yet. It’s been a year since I last saw them. The good news is that they will be flying in for a visit July 19th which is the same day that Sharon returns from Guatemala. Woohoo!