My adorable niece, Emma, turned 1 back in September. There were snow cones, a bounce house, balloons, a smash cake and presents, of course ““ lots of presents. Last night, I finally uploaded her birthday party pictures on Facebook. (Slacker aunt alert!)
That got me thinking about technology ““ Facebook, email, Skype and the like. Although my sister only lives 2 ½ hours away, I don’t get over there as often as I should. (I know, I know.) But thanks to computers, I can stay up-to-date on everything that’s going on.
Last week, my sister sent me a video of Emma swimming for the first time, minutes after it happened. It was amazing! I cried.
My inbox and news feed are overflowing with photos and videos of Emma crawling, walking, dancing, laughing and hamming it up. And I can’t get enough!
My parents (Papa and Grammy) Skype with her regularly ““ now that she’s old enough to know who she’s talking to, she loves showing off her favorite toys, books and games ““ and jumping around the room.
I know this is nothing new ““ but it’s still amazing to me. My childhood is contained to a few scrapbooks and several boxes of faded photos, but every moment of Emma’s can now be documented via photo, video, status update, tweet or email. It certainly makes being a slacker aunt that much easier.
Now I just have to wonder ““ what’s next? By the time I have kids (a not-so-subtle nudge to my significant other, ahem!), maybe someone will have perfected hologram technology. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see”¦ “say hi to 3D Grandma, sweetie!”