Communicating with My Children

I was cleaning out some drawers yesterday and ran into several treasures.  Some that are most precious to me our notes and cards my children have given to me.  And those notes and cards made me stop and think of all the ways they have communicated with me over the years.  By far my favorites are those in writing.  I tend to keep each scrap of paper that has one of their messages.

But then I  stopped and thought of how we have communicated over the last few years.  Of course cell phones have been a big part of our communication.  I remember that each morning for a month or so my daughter would call me on my cell phone as I was setting my classroom up for the day and tell me all the latest on her job hunt.  Each detail was important and needed to be shared, and I would wander around my room listening while  going about getting my classroom ready.

I also remember when my middle son was in Europe and we emailed and had the occasional phone call.  This was about six years ago and when we were on the phone there was always a delay in hearing what was said and being able to talk.  We did email a great deal; and I copied each email.  After he had been back for some time and living on his own in California, I gave him all the emails in a notebook.  He read them on a flight back to California and called when he arrived home telling me how much they meant to him.  I remember when the youngest was in Europe last year and we would Skype.  It amazed me how we saw him at the college he was attending, at Starbucks, and even sharing a Thanksgiving dinner with friends from France.

Of course besides phone calls, there are now text messages and even Facebook messages.  My son in California posted old front pages of our hometown newspaper with college basketball headlines.  He did it to make me remember the good times when "my" basketball team didn't loose like it did this weekend.

All these to me are ways we stay in touch and it means so much.  I just wish all of them were of the kind that I could keep so when I open an old drawer the memories are there for me to see and touch again.