Webcams

Webcams can be wonderful! Yesterday DJ hooked up a webcam he had bought awhile back and never got around to using. They contacted Kiel to tell him to log on to Yahoo since he is the one with a Yahoo account and since his laptop has a built in webcam.

Boy, did I want to shout Yahoo! There were my darling grand daughters, dancing and twirling and playing the piano and throwing kisses to Gramma. I blew kisses right back. It was so nice to see them, to remark about how big Katie is getting and how long Kelly's hair has grown. I got to see the new puppy, Grace (a birthday gift to DJ), and even got a glimpse of the busy parents who are both looking hale and hearty despite the demands of two young daughters full of zip and dazzle.

While it wasn't quite as smooth as real life, and there was a bit of delay between talking and hearing, it was still way better than phone. At one point, Kiel held up a picture on his cell phone to the webcam so DJ could see it - and he did see it! How amazing that we made a call on a cell phone to do a live video viewing via internet on a computer driven by cell phone access! It was almost as good as a visit. Ain't technology grand! I can't wait until they make the process smoother and easier to navigate. DJ plans to branch out and visit the Great Grammas! Hope they can make it work.

Homecoming

Really, its just another soccer game, right? So why does Drew have to be there from 10 am until well after 6? OK, so he should support the other teams, and there is the tradition that the boys soccer team presents the girls' team with a flower after their game (the 10 am one) is over [they won]. But really, it shoots the whole day. Its not like I have time to do much of anything before and after his game. I find it hard not to resent the huge investment of my time just for one game.

But wait. This is my son, and my youngest at that. I do not have many more days of going to soccer games to watch my sons play. I missed already so many of DJ's, Kiel's, Drew's because I could not go. Today I can take my reading with me, sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather, and still get work done. Stop seeing things through the eyes of an adult and see them again through the eyes of a young person just beginning to explore life! This is a BIG deal! Exciting! Connecting with people, showing your skills, bonding with alumni and friends. Yes, a moment I do want to share with Drew.

It didn't help that I had to pay to get in or that Drew injured his shoulder during warm ups and sat the bench the entire game or that I forgot to bring sunblock and burned the side of my face and arm badly or that I was constantly overhearing gossip about the players from sideline groupies. But the sun was warm and the day pleasant and the game well played even though we lost 2 to 1. The athletes' enthusiasm was solid and the fall decorations well displayed.

Even though soccer is not the premiere event (that would be football), the game was well attended. There were many alums reliving their days of glory, cheering our team on. It was nice to have a large crowd milling about, shouting with joy when a goal was made, groaning with sympathy when one was missed by a hair. The smell of grilling hotdogs and hamburgs filled the air, and younger brothers and sisters ran about yelling and laughing. The festive atmosphere brought back memories of high school and college games I had been part of. Those were good memories.

Afterwards, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a flatbread sandwich and a strawberry smoothie to celebrate Drew's homecoming game. Drew was a bit crestfallen both about not being able to play and about losing, but he handled it well. Next year I will plan better, make a bigger fuss about homecoming, be more connected. This year was OK, but I can do a lot more in spite of the fact that Drew tells me he would rather I didn't come to his games. What is he thinking! Its my God given right as MOM and I'm taking full advantage.

Soundscapes

I once read a book about the changes happening to the sound environment, how London streets once reverberated with the sound of horses hooves clopping against cobblestones, a sound now extinct from everyday experience. It spoke of changes in technology and living styles affecting the background noise to which we are accustomed, how living in a city blocks nature sounds from filling our ears (and I would add how the haze of city lights at night has affected our night vision to such an extent that we are no longer able to see in true darkness).

I thought about how the soundscape differs from my last apartment location to my current location. Some sounds are alike - in both places I lived between two churches who ring bells and play steeple music. In the old apartment, I was located between a Catholic Church who's bell simply tolled the hours and Pearce Memorial that rang Westminster Chimes on the quarter hours and sometimes their carillon played hymns. In my current apartment, I am between a Catholic Church that rings the Westminster Chimes along with occasional tunes, and a Presbyterian church that tolls the hours.

In my former apartment I didn't really hear any traffic noise because I was so far back. I could hear birdsong clearly, and insect noises though. In my current place, I begin to hear traffic noise starting around 6:30am and lasting until at least 10pm. I only hear the insect and bird sounds when I walk towards the back of the complex.

There is not the same angst about sound extinction as there is about species extinction, but I wonder if we should be concerned. For me the changes in soundscape include incessant ringing of phones that do not sound like phones. At work, we can program our phones to sound like just about anything we choose from a star wars sci-fi sound to buzzing and rhythmic beeping to an "old-fashioned" phone ring.

Cell phones allow you to program the ring of your phone to reflect your personal tastes be that music or a male voice shouting "Answer the phone, stupid." (no thanks - my phone rings with Bach's Fugue in D minor). Once the sound of a phone ringing used to be limited to a building where there were phones; now you hear phones ringing just about anywhere, including in bathrooms, cars, outside, in concert halls, churches, you name it.

Laptops provide their own access to sounds not normally heard outside a living room. You get to hear movies and music wherever you go (what's that old nursery rhyme? "Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross, To see a fine lady upon a white horse. With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes.") We are never without sound.

While I don't advocate spending time in an anechoic chamber (I once stood in one at an organ manufacturer's plant, a room where they recorded pure instrumental sound to use as their electronic stops), I can't help but wonder how all this noise is affecting us in our ability to hear, to respond, in our physical condition. Not only is silence rare, but it has become uncomfortable.

I have come to believe that our bodies and our souls need silence, times to relax, times to be free of outside stimulus. In healing from cancer (or any other devastating illness), I found it especially necessary to carve out times of walking in nature not only to surround myself with beauty, but also to escape from the incessant noise of the world.

It often felt as if it took at least a half hour for the noises jammed up in my ears to slowly fall out and clear my head. Once the blockage was removed, my body could move on to concentrate on other necessities, healing actions, calming jangled nerves, restoring peace. I resent noise pollution and combat it as often as I can. It is not just that the changes in our soundscapes surprise us or affect us in ways of loss. It is that we are forced to endure so much unwanted sound, so much ugly sound, so much constant noise.

If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, a bit stirred up, a bit at loose ends without knowing quite why, if you are tired all the time for no apparent reason, on edge, find yourself snapping at people, I encourage you to find a quiet place - a truly quiet place - and spend some time there. For some it may be a nature trail, for others a library, for others, your bedroom closet. Whatever the place, go there and stay there until the excess sound falls out of your ears and your body relaxes. Then stay awhile longer, listen for silence, for peace, for your own breathing, for nothing. Close your eyes and be quiet.

If you do that, maybe, just maybe, you will be able to hear the Truth. And maybe you will be able to take that peace with you back into the noisy world.