Keeping in touch

My parents lived in a little hamlet with no phone and half a day's drive away from any civilization. Email did not exist then, nor did Facebook. It was good old hand written letters that the good old postman flawlessly delivered. Yet, my parents kept in touch.

Some of their friends from abroad would make detours during their international travel to visit us in our little inaccessible hamlet. Some would send us pictures of their kids every Christmas, and my father would meticulously cross check the address in their letter against his address book. Some we only saw in pictures, or heard stories about, but somehow my parents knew where they were and what they were doing. They still are in touch after so many years.

I have a phone that costs close to nothing, have email, facebook, linked-in, and various other apps, and yet hardly keep in touch.I forget where my friends actually live (was that Memphis, or Phoenix?), what their kids are called, and where they work. It is not that I don't have very fond memories of them. Some of them are practically family (in my heart anyway). However, it seems like I hardly even get time to talk to patidev, and everyone else just has to stand in line.