After the kids moved to the east coast, we were excited to have a virtual phone conversation to find out how everyone was doing. We thought we would try using the Zoom conference service, so we sent our adult kids a Zoom link. Unfortunately, the thirty somethings were great at using I phones but could not get the Zoom video to function. So instead of having a large computer screen for our communication, we had to resort to our cell phone screen. We conveniently placed the cell phone on the computer laptop. Well, the conversation did not go as we had wished. As we asked our son and daughter in law how they liked the new neighborhood, their answers were drowned out by various interruptions from the kids. The two-year-old held up a favorite toy which blocked our view, and she repeated odd sounding words that we could not recognize. Every now and then we heard a bang or clank as the toy hit the screen. While this was going on, the parents continued to talk about how they liked the new area, but we only caught a word or two here and there. The oldest granddaughter tried to say Hi in between her sister’s interruptions. She sometimes talked to her sister and at other times seemed to be trying to get our attention. We tried to be present for each person, but the conversation did not accomplish connection to each soul to say the least. I am used to being able to do multiple things at once and I could not tell you what was said after our first conversation. I guess I will need to get used to chaos as communication!
