Reach Out & Touch Someone
In 1981,
AT&T ripped at our heartstrings with the slogan “Reach out and touch
someone”.
Think
back…
You’re
away at college when you see this tear jerking long distance telephone
commercial on TV. Now you know, without a shadow of a doubt, how much your
momma misses you? Call her!
Your
sweet old Grandma doesn’t have much time left on this earth; she wants to hear
your voice. Won’t you at least talk to her today?
When
I hear the first few notes of this gut wrenching jingle, I instantly yearn for
the yummy smells of home. My eyes well-up, I need to talk to my daddy.
Oh,
for crying out loud, this is one powerful commercial, my father lives next
door!
Now,
fast-forward twenty-seven years to our current lifestyle.
I'm
living a dream as I walk barefoot on sugar white sands. The warm emerald waters
of the
However,
my life in paradise does not keep me from popping in on my daughter, Keelyn,
for a quick virtual chat. My computer’s web cam hooks up with my daughters Mac
in
This
is how the ‘Baby Boomer’ parents and generation ‘X’ children communicate in
2008.
Today
my seven-month-old grandbaby, Trista, is flapping her arms like a bird,
wiggling on her momma’s lap, happily squawking showing me glimpses of her new
front teeth.
I
watch Charlie, my five-year-old grandson, bounce into the room looking straight
at me on the computer screen. (The computer grandma’s virtual visit is old-hat
to him.) Charlie’s big brown eyes twinkle as he smirks and says, “Gran-maw, can
I have some candy?”
Thrilled
to be noticed, I quickly answer, “Yes you can”. Charlie takes off on a dead run
shouting back towards me, “Gran-maw you’re da best”.
My
daughter instantly spews out an irritated “Mom!”
Somehow,
I’m not getting that warm fuzzy feeling of …‘Reach out and touch someone’.
This
virtual reality ‘thang’ just got tricky. Oops, mybad!
