21st Century online love

There are so many things that would not be possible without this online world of ours. We can talk about people who meet and fall in love online and we can talk about romance and relationships that rise and fall at the push of a button, but this story is different. This story is about discovery and how this online world can close the gap regardless of the distance between two people.

Several weeks ago my mother was taken to hospital with a sore back. She was tired and ill and at the time we thought it was just her arthritis playing up. She was prodded and scanned and put on drips and everything else they do in hospitals when they’re not quite sure what the problem is.

But the news has come that she is suffering from Multiple Myeloma. This illness is treatable and we have a long road ahead, but I’m sure she will keep her eyes on the horizon and take each step with all the power she has used to walk through her amazing life to this point.

She was born in 1930 and lived through times where family members went to fight in wars and there was no instant messaging to let loved ones know who was living or who had died. Death notices came as messages on paper months after the loss of a loved one and even then, it was unclear if they were dead or just ‘lost’. She met my father while working in an office because in those days you had to meet someone physically to fall in love and marry. There was no email or Facebook or dating sites to choose your partner in the luxury of your own home. They had six beautiful children, travelled the world together numerous times, worked in Fiji where they survived the coup d’état in 2000, and were together until his untimely death in 2004.

But a strange thing has happened since my mother became ill. My brother bought her an iPad so she could watch television with an earphone in the hospital if she woke up in the middle of the night. He began to show her how to use it and then he clicked on my blog. How the world has changed for her!

My sister called several nights ago and told me my mother was improving dramatically (and almost miraculously). She was reading my blog posts and comments out loud to anyone and everyone who would listen. Then another thing happened – she started sending me emails. She’s telling me how much she loves my blog. She loves the house I had moved to the farm (known affectionately as the RUC). What a beautiful view I have! How many of those wonderful creatures had I seen! The house looks fantastic!

And then it occurred to me. Because she had never been online she had missed the things I was telling the world. She had been left out of my communication loop. I would call her on the telephone, but this never provided her with a ‘visual’ of what I was doing since I moved 3,500 kilometers away in November. She had missed a huge chunk of my life.

To all those out there who think the internet is only for new love, think again – it’s also for families to remain close no matter the distance between us.

Keep up the good work, Mother! Stay strong and I’m sending you big ***HUGS***

I’ve put some photos below of the children’s visit so you can see more of my life.

Me & my baby girl Chrissy after a day at the Port Douglas markets

Chrissy & Tony enjoying the Great Barrier Reef

The kids at the beach (my three in the middle, for those who’ve never seen them before)

This post was inspired by the weekly writing challenge “Love in the 21st Century” (and dedicated to my darling mother).