About a year ago, my mom sold her home and decided to live on the road. Well, to be more precise, in a 38-foot motor home, with all of the luxuries, on the road. She is retired and taking some time to see the beautiful country we live in.
The only downside is the distance. Her regular plane rides to visit became more difficult since she was traveling from place to place all the time. So, I decided to let technology bring us closer together.
When I used to travel for business I never left home without my laptop and my web cam. My laptop, of course, was for work during the day, but in the evenings, between meetings and business dinners, I would go online at the hotel and video chat with my family. It was a great way to shorten the distance.
I could see and hear my husband and kids in real time. I would show them my hotel room so they knew where I was staying and sometimes I would even point the web cam out my window and show them downtown San Francisco, or wherever the trip had taken me.
I could read to my kids, laugh and giggle with them and blow kisses through the computer. It made the long trips away from home much easier for all of us.
So, when the distance with my mom became greater, I broke out the web cams and sent her a Mac and we were video chatting in no time.
I set everything up for her since she wasn't really comfortable with a computer. She never had a laptop, but was determined to learn so her grandkids could keep in touch. Most of the campgrounds they stay at have WiFi access and her Mac automatically picks up the signal so she is ready to chat. We use Apple's iChat AV software, which comes pre-installed on Macs and makes the process so simple. The newer Mac laptops even come with built in web cams now. It doesn't get any easier than that.
iChat AV does a lot more too. You can text chat, audio chat, or video chat over the Internet without any text messaging, long distance, or video streaming charges. Not only can you chat one-on-one like we do, you can also set up a video conference with multiple people.
There are video chat programs for PCs as well, so either platform gives you the opportunity to stay in touch. Best of all, it's free. All it takes is an Internet connection, preferably something faster than dial-up, and you can video chat whenever you want, for as long as you want, for no charge.
My kids "call" grandma up on the computer and show her what they did in school that day, or made in art class, or just say hi. It has made the miles apart seem much shorter and has helped them continue to have a really strong bond with her.
My kids don't know the The Jetsons, but my mom and I remember that classic cartoon about a family of the future, and we laugh how something we saw on the show over 30 years ago, brings us closer together today.