VoIP brings a mom to her children

A friend of mine had lunch the other day. She kept talking about her kids. One of them, a graduate student in New York, was seeing someone new. “I hear he’s gorgeous,” she said, “I bet they’ll have beautiful babies.” (FYI, it was only their second date.) Her youngest was in Texas, working for a big pharmaceutical company. “She’s having trouble with her boss, and they had a big fight the other day, so she’s thinking of resigning.” Her eldest was going through a messy divorce. “I talked to him for two hours,” she sighed, “it’s so sad.”

Whoa! Two hours? Long distance? Not a problem. Thanks to my urging, she got herself Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP). No long distance fees. Thanks to VoIP my friend’s been able to keep in touch with her kids, which is a big thing for a mother. “I like to feel like I’m still part of their life,” she said, “even if all I can do is listen.”
Because VoIP costs much less than long distance bills, she can indulge in long conversations, instead of the short and quick “how do you do’s” which inevitably occur when you’re watching the minutes of a phone card. She can gush over new boyfriends (and hint about getting grandchildren). She can hear about a bad day at work and give advice on finding a new job. She can also just be there for a child who is going through a tough time, helping him go through pros and cons, giving a pat on the back, even praying with them.
I guess you could say that VoIP’s the latest in technology. But in a mother’s hands, it’s the equivalent of the most familiar feeling in the world: feeling safe, because mommy’s there.