My Daughter's Birthday

"holding up our present to watch her unwrap it"

My niece just had her first child last night, missing the opportunity to share my daughter's birth date of May 4th.

Though technology can sometimes separate us as we hover over our devices and ignore social contacts sitting right beside us, technology is also marvelous in its ability to bring us together.

And that is what happened tonight.

My daughter lives 8 hours away, so being there wasn't going to happen for us.  But the computer brought us together today.
First, the e-card through Hallmark, was scheduled to be sent months in advance.
Second, the present shopping and ordering was online through Amazon.  Shipped directly to her, I never even saw it in person.
And then thirdly, when it came time for cake and presents, we were there through FaceTime for the whole thing!  We sang "Happy Birthday" with her husband and in-laws.  We watched her blow out her candles.  She offered us some cake.  I got to see her open our gift, and took a couple of pictures of the celebration.  The photos were not as good as I'd have liked, since I used my iPhone to take a picture of the iPad image.  But that's okay, her husband can email me one he took on his phone.

It was almost as good as being there.  I would have liked to have had some cake though.