I was looking out for the light at the end of the tunnel, desperately hoping that there is some light on a dark day. It was just one of those days when life seems to hold no meaning what so ever. I opened a window, the window of my PC and lo! Then I was smiling! I was in the "Facebook", a very busy social network on the Internet. It was crowded with friends and family! There seems to be magic in the air! Friends that I have not been in touch with for a long time were holding out their hands towards me. What is this, a fairy land? Here are people from the far and wide world. They beckon to me. They want to be friends. My other friends are writing loving messages and sending me gifts. They have their family members too on line. I feel as if I am now a part of a universal family.
My daughter-in-law is there in this fairy land. She has posted some recipes for delicious desserts. Even the pictures of these are showing, making my mouth water for them. My cousin who lives in Buffalo, NY has her photo album with hundreds of pictures and I can see them with a mere click of my finger. There is her new baby, all smiles and gurgles! A school friend comes up with pictures of our school days. Hey that is great! She has all those childhood pictures and I don't. But now we can share it all. An old aunt, nearly seventy years old pokes me on my wall.
"Hey Tu, do you remember me , your Aunt Ruby, the one who sent Quality Streets for you so regularly when you were a little girl?"
"Betch ya, I do !" I say. "I am still ready to get those chocolates!"
In the fairy land my nephew comes in the chat room. He wants some chocolates too. In the chat room I sit down to chat with my aunt and the other friends who have joined in. There were so many pop ups with "Moni has signed in" or "Munni has signed in" and then we were there all together. Physically some of us are oceans apart but the on the PC screen we are al there, having fun and sharing the latest happenings.
From the Facebook I venture out and open my window to MSN Messenger. Here I am greeted by more friends and family members. I wish a happy birthday to my cousin Moira and send along a smiling face and a flower. She sends back a deep hug. My daughter sends a message that I should have my web camera on. And lo! Now I can see my daughter in the very room she is sitting. Next I take the headphone and sign in to the voice messenger. There now I can talk with my daughter who resides in USA. My son joins in from Australia. And it feels as if we are sitting in our living room, sipping tea and talking. I extend my imagination and imagine that my son and my daughter are sitting beside me. I try to picture them in the clothes that I am familiar with. It's a way of warding off my loneliness and feeling the bliss of having this PC and the Internet .
I open up "wwwgmail.com" and check the e-mails. Lots of mails from friends and relatives are there. There is some exciting news regarding a fiction that I recently sent to a publisher. And there is a piece of sad news about a sick aunt. And there is some news of my workplace, some added responsibilities. I feel as if my e-mail box is making me smile and cry. But how faithfully the Internet is there bringing me in touch with the big world around me! Not only am I connected to the outside world but I can listen to music on my PC and watch movies too.
People wonder what I do in my empty nest. There are times when they ask,
"What do you do all day at home, no children to bug you?"
Well my dears, if only you knew how busy I can be just with my PC at home! Hubby has a laptop and I my computer. And then we are connected over the Internet to the big, big world! Can empty nest syndromes get hold of us? Ha…let the children grow in their own ways, let them roam over the world. We don't want the children to be cooped down with their aging parents! We are at peace at home, enjoying the sun setting days and thankful to have all the blessings of Allah. Thanks to the age of science and technology. We can grow old with confidence that the world might not be so lonely at all when the chicks fly out of the nest!
|