As part of the preparation process, I helped my mom create her very own Skype account. My family wants to be able to see my face (“every…single…day.”) over the next two months in which I will be in Morocco. At first, I thought it would be tedious and overbearing and annoying. But it’s a week away from take off and I’m starting to appreciate the beauty of technology. I can’t imagine not seeing my mom or sister’s face for that long; I’ve never had to before. I didn’t really start feeling this way until my mom thought it was imperative that we start practicing our Skype techniques before the big game.
Now the first thing to know is that my mom’s room is adjoined to mine by a glass door that is covered by curtains on both sides. The second thing to understand is that her bed, which is where she’s Skyping from, is the general meeting place for out whole family. This means that I can hear her laughing, my sister twerking, and our dog bouncing around a full five seconds before I see it on the screen. It’s ridiculously heartwarming and tear-jerking.
I can see my mom, at midnight, rolling around and laughing with my sister while 5,000 miles away, it’s 8am and I’m in need of a wake-up call. I can imagine scheduling a call so my family can hear the call to prayer “first hand”. I can see myself holding the computer up so that my mom can meet my other mom and my sister can meet her replacement.
So the Skype development has been bitter-sweet. Watching my mom make funny faces into the camera while my sister sings her rendition of “Take Off Your Cool” by Andre 3000 and Lukas chews on a treat with his face right in the lens-when I know they’re only on the other side of a glass door that I could throw myself through if I wanted-is funny and entertaining. But after a few weeks of only hearing their voices for an hour a day, this same interaction is gonna kick me in the gut. And, a little further down the road, this is going to be us for a lot longer. All three of us will be syncing up time differences from our apartments and dorm rooms on different sides of the country and shouting over each other and laughing until we’re dizzy and probably doing a bit of crying. And that’s pretty powerful to think about, too.
Before I Was Anyone 