The Mother of Invention

I spent part of my Friday night on the lookout for horses.
Specifically, the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

As my sweetheart and I returned home from our regular Friday night curling match, we spotted my mother in the porch of our house. She was using her new laptop to check her email, using my wifi.
My mother. Checking email. Surely the second coming is at hand for my computer-averse, nearly 70 year old mommy to a) own a laptop computer b)fire it up by herself c) check her email at my house without supervision.

But ten minutes later, we were practising our videochatting in advance of our first 'computer date' with my brother, sister in law, nieces and nephew as they continue their adventure in Australia.

There were a few glitches, (apparently wifi at McDonalds in Brisbane does not support videochat) but we did manage a conversation.

While Internet video is nowhere near as smooth as the commercials might lead you to believe, it's vastly superior to, say, letter writing.

I've ever seen anything in this world like the light in my mom's eyes when my five year old's shining, dimpled morning face and messy hair showed up on screen with a, "Hi, Gramma!" It was worth every penny of the extra broadband charges I'm likely facing.