“Bon Soir! Nous sommes arrives en Paris and just had the most delicious falafel at L’As in the Marais, after a nighttime tour of the Louvre. Magnifique.” Over the last week I’ve looked forward to Daphne’s status changes on Facebook the way I once looked forward to her letters home from overnight camp. My daughter and her husband, Etan are on a ten day tour of Europe that began in Madrid, included a few days in Barcelona, and will wrap up in Paris.
As a child playing at the home of a kid named Claudia Mansly, I once overheard actor Henry Winkler’s mom tearfully telling Claudia’s mom about the shortcomings of a son-in-law soon to be banished from the family. She cited his failure to send so much as a post card during a trip to Europe as proof positive of his loutishness. Although the incident occurred nearly fifty years ago, I have vivid memories of a time when vacation travel required sending picture post cards to let family members know that (1) you were o.k. and (2) you were thinking of them. Even if the cards sometimes arrived days after you returned home.
While sitting at the airport in Newark, waiting for their flight to take off, my own son-in-law, the consumer tech columnist for the Orlando Sentinel, sent me an e-mail with a link to their flight and hotel info on Dropbox, a virtual online storage system. Although I didn’t like the Dropbox interface causing my Macbook to freeze up, I thought it was very thoughtful of Etan to know that things like detailed itineraries give moms of only children peace of mind.
I also loved logging on to Facebook the next day and seeing Etan’s status change saying “We made it to Madrid.” Even more gratifying was his status change a couple of days later, saying “Here’s @Dsashin on the roof of Gaudi’s Casa Mila in Barcelona.” Etan links his Twitter feed with his Facebook account, and I grinned when I saw the Twitpic of my daughter. She had a big smile on her face, and I was overcome with joy, seeing how happy she looked.
As a communications professional, I often find myself trying to help newbies understand that Facebook is about faces, a warm, visual medium not intended for big blocks of text. For keeping touch with family members traveling or living far away, it can be a lot more personal than the old picture post card and sometimes more satisfying than a phone call.
I love seeing the kids’ photos on Facebook, knowing that I won’t need to wait until I visit them over Thanksgiving to learn how their trip turned out. Since Daphne is the quintessential foodie, especially when it comes to sweets, I especially enjoyed seeing her eying the pastries inside a food market off La Rambla in Barcelona.
Having come into this world early enough to experience telephone party-lines, where mischievous children could pick up a telephone and listen in on other people’s conversations, I like that Facebook provides for socially acceptable eavesdropping. It’s even o.k. to join the conversation by using the Comments function. During the course of Daphne and Etan’s trip, I’ve “listened” to their conversations with other Facebook friends about food and restaurant recommendations. In a world where shared experiences are a social lubricant, I also “heard” that the son of a mutual Facebook friend and professional colleague from Philadelphia was in Barcelona at the same time.
A woman who happens to be a member of my extended family considers it a point of pride that she talks on the phone with each of her daughters at least once a day, often more. When she asked me whether Daphne and I have daily telephone conversations, I felt a tad defensive at first.
Although my daughter and I live in the same time zone, we both have jobs requiring frequent attendance at evening meetings and receptions. Not to mention the fact that my early morning fitness routine means I have a much earlier bedtime than Daphne. So we usually talk on the phone just once a week – unless there’s something pressing either of us wants to discuss.
When I mentioned this to Jane, a Facebook friend who also happens to be married to my stepson Josh, she had a really sweet observation. She reminded me that Daphne and I keep in touch with each other’s lives using Facebook but also Twitter and blogs. On the morning Jane and I had our little conversation over brunch at Gage in Chicago, I remembered that I knew exactly what Daphne was doing. She was judging a pet costume contest in Orlando, and I looked forward to seeing the pics on Facebook.
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