March Madness: Things My Mom Learns From Oprah

I love getting emails from my mom. They always have one of two subject lines:

Mom Here (if she is addressing me)

or

Grandma Here (if she is talking about Miles)

I thought surely there would never be another subject line from her. Ever.

Until the other day when I got this shocker:

Subject: Skype

WHA?? I nearly fell out of my chair. This surely can't be an email from MY mother, the one who can't figure how to to check her voicemail on her cell phone, the one that only just recently joined Facebook (after I set it up for her). Surely MY mother does not know such a thing as Skype!?!

My parents are snowbirds, meaning they go down south for the winter. They head to sunny AZ to escape the 7 coldest months of the year in Minnesota. Smart people, my folks. They love it down there. They love everything except for the fact that their daughters and grandsons are so far away for so many months.

So, Sweet Jean (as Grant calls her) comes up with this brilliant idea to Skype with us from AZ. I'm pretty sure she got the idea from Oprah.

"Does your computer have a Skype camera on it?" she asks.

I love the fact that she thinks that Skype is a type of camera. That makes me smile. But mostly it just makes me miss her. Tomorrow is Miles' 2nd birthday and my parents won't be here to celebrate with us.

And obviously she is thinking the same thing. Miles is growing up and changing at the speed of light, and I know she doesn't want to miss a minute of it.

But honestly? I never thought my 64 year old mother would know the meaning of Skype. She proves me wrong, yet again.

(Thanks, Oprah, for turning my mom on to Skype. Oh, and I have always wanted to thank you for introducing me to Spanx. My muffin top Spanx you very much, too.)

Maybe she will get her 'Skype camera' set up in time to chat with us on his birthday? I sure hope so.