My phone started chirping pre-dawn; not ready for that on a no-plans Sunday morning. Baby be here soon…or something like that. Couldn’t tell by the e-tone of the message if it came from my sister or her husband; either way sounded more definitive than the last scare a few weeks ago. She’s had problems with each pregnancy—never severe but several weeks of ordered bed-rest for a healthy, active gal is fairly significant. No sense of panic so I didn’t call back, just got up and started the day.
Samantha was due for a run so we leashed up and hit the trail without much of a plan. Before we were finished the phone chirped again—new member to the family. Great news, everybody’s healthy and happy. Brings our family count to a total of four nieces and a nephew ranging from one week to hmmmm……..11.
A few years ago I would have never had the good fortune of having this information in virtual real time; even mobile calls can be time consuming and cumbersome in such situations. But a simple mass-text is composed and sent in under a couple minutes. On the downside we continue to lose the family connectivity as we try and overcompensate geographical spread with technology. Some of the worst effects can be found within sibling relationships which then, of course, trickles down to the children/cousins. Postponement of marriage, increasingly more prominent role of women in the workplace, clustering of metro areas around the country and an increased dependency on technology added together does not make for an ideal extended family residing in close proximity. Admittedly a gross oversimplification for the sake of time yet supported by a number of relationship studies. Naturally most folks indicate (first reaction) they are ever grateful for the technology that enables us to maintain connection with immediate family who have moved—while after reflection it’s probable many (if not most) admit the relationship is not the same as it had been before moving–or even that it would be if we were limited to phone conversations.
As families continue to globalize it’ll continue to be even more important to utilize the latest and greatest in order to hold on to something of a structure that provides support and grounding. Having moved around close to two-thirds of my life I can easily speak to what happens when you don’t fully keep up with the latest greatest. I’d still much rather sit and have a coffee and chat with a family member than any one of 1/2 dozen other ways to keep in touch. My loss for falling behind~~. Could I have waited a few hours to get a call about the newest family member? Absolutely. Yet admittedly it felt good to be on the receiving end of a couple notices as well as a near instantaneous announcement. Perhaps I’ll catch on one day.