Sunday, July 03, 2011

Hello? I see you!

My father was a salesman my whole life.  He traveled each week and was usually gone overnight anywhere from two to three nights a week.  Each night he would call.  This was back in the day when we had rotary phones, no answering machines, and no caller ID.  Yet, we always knew it would be Dad on the other end of the line when we picked up as he always called in the early evening.

Me:  "Masons!"

Dad:  "Well, hello there."

Me:  "Hi Dad!"

Dad:  "Hi yourself.  You're looking good."

Me:  "How do you know, you can't see me."

Dad:  "I certainly can."

Me:  "No, you can't.  There is no such thing as a phone where you can see people while you talk."

Dad:  "I see you and you are looking good."

Me:  "If you can see me, what am I wearing."

Dad:  "Clothes."

And the conversation would continue until one of us got tired of it.  It never differed for the most part.  He always said I was looking good, and I always said he couldn't see me because there was no such device.
Unfortunately, my father passed away before that device actually came into play in my life.

We now have phones with face-time.  Call up someone with face-time capacity and there they are while you speak to him.  He can see you.  You can see him.  Our computers have the ability to dial up someone on an application called Skype.  There she is on your computer.  There you are on her computer.  My Ipad can do the same thing.  I can see my mother and she can see me on her Ipad.

Darcy and her cousin, Gabby, in Indiana call each other daily on Skype.  Darcy sits her laptop on the floor and Gabby sits her laptop on her floor and the two of them PLAY BARBIES TOGETHER!  Right there via their computers!  The other night we had Gabby on Skype and she joined five of us and we all played the game Password.  She sat on Darcy's lap.  It was very surreal for us older folks.

And all I could think was that my Dad saw this coming way back when.


2 comments:

Susan said...

Seriously, I feel as if we are already together...gabby and darcy talk so much I'm afraid they won't have anything to talk about when we really do get together! It really is weird that they can actually "play" together while in two different states!! What's next?

Michelle said...

I agree....your Dad was way ahead of his time. I still tell my kids when they say Hey! to...save it, you might marry a horse. It took them awhile to get it, but now they just tell me it isn't funny anymore. I still think it is! Love and miss Russ! I also love the picture of the book. Wish I could write a book and make some money off it. Of course I would have to use my maiden name because Neuenschwander would scare off the readers! LOL