About a month ago I was instant messaging with friend Theo. Half way through the "conversation" Theo began berating me for using primitive IM when the world had moved on to Skype. An hour later I had signed up for an account, installed the software and video camera, and was having my first video Skype session with Theo.Over Christmas I purchased and installed webcams for Natick, Brooklyn and my laptop, and the era of Skype was upon us.
The girls immediately took to it, and almost as quickly became jaded. But they've enjoyed the video calls with daddy's Nana and Papa and with me at the office. Stella already uses the word "Skype" as if it was the first word out of her mouth 5 years ago.
The big test came this past week while I was away in San Francisco. Not only did we have nice chats from my Moscone Center office, but I took the girls and the notebook for walks in the hallways, into other offices and up into the Yerba Buena Gardens. Stella and Marni got to chat with all the NASFT staffers. They were quite a hit.
Skype will now settle into a routine until summer when it will get a workout between Old Orchard and New York City.
And the girls will probably never remember a time when they couldn't see who they were talking to on the computer.
