NFL Super Bowl XLVIII

Super Bowl parties! They are fun—filled with family and friends. I attended the best one ever and I did not leave my home but I hung with all my favorite peeps. Dan and Angel cheered mightily for the Seahawks in their Seattle condo. Steve dished “Pey Pey” in Nashville.  Rick offered a spread of yummy game snacks in Citrus Heights. Suzanne, while sitting in her home in Nebraska, extolled the beauty of Renee Fleming’s rendition of our national anthem.

Between my smart phone email, text, and the iPad mini with Facebook, I kept in real-time contact with ten households from Lodi, California to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. If I had really stopped to analyze what I was doing I probably could have added in more friends and Skyped a few more.

We live in a fantastically unbelievable world these days. My family and friends are spread to the four corners of this big blue marble but are all accessible as if they lived next door. A few decades ago, I might have been at a party, picked up the phone, and called my brother. Everyone in the room would have shouted, “Hey.” That would have been it. Instead I got such gems as—“Bieber busted. Raiders not playing. My life is hell…got chili on tho…” Digital image pops up of half eaten chicken wings and strawberry shortcake.  Image of Peyton Manning on the phone asking if his mother would come pick him up. “One moment please, Seahawk HATERS!!! 29-0 just 12 seconds into the 3^rd quarter. Could we have a moment of silence please?”

Witt and barbs flung back and forth through the cloud. The final gun, confetti, and then as if a party ended, they wandered through the cloud and back to their lives. I am struck but the simplicity of the electronic communication and the comfort of it all.

My great grandmother Flossie Mapes came across this country in a covered wagon. She communicated with those left behind in letters written in gorgeous script we now call calligraphy. It took hours to write anything of significance and weeks to get a reply. Images of loved ones were taken on tintype and pressed on paper. Some of them still exist in an antique family bible that my brother now owns.

Tomorrow morning my goddaughter will text me a message with a smiley face or a heart to start my Monday as she always does. I will feel close to her though she lives one hundred and twenty-nine miles away. My cousin Katie in Hawaii will post a selfie on Facebook depicting her weekend events. Sue Tornai, Sunrise Christian Writers, will post the events for February on our website. Many times I take this for granted though it is truly remarkable. The ability to touch someone anywhere at any time is a hallmark of this new century.

I hope you had fun at your Super Bowl party.