Yesterday, I was at my husband's grandparents' house and I had a realization.
My husband's grandpa was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, and he has not been improving. He was just told he may only have a couple of more weeks left to live. Because of this, everyone in their family is trying to visit him, maybe for the last time. However, since their family is made up of 108 people, it is impossible for everyone in the family to fly to Utah to see him right now.
This is when I came to love and be thankful for media.
Usually, in my mind, I think of media as a negative thing because sometimes it's inappropriate or is simply a bad influence on our lives. But in this case, it is such a positive thing.
In the short amount of time we were at my husband's grandparents' house, multiple people in their family called his grandpa on FaceTime to talk to him and see how he was doing. Media is such a blessing. It allows those who cannot afford or are not able to buy a plane ticket to Utah to see their dad/grandpa/great-grandpa to talk to him and tell him how much they love him.
This form of communication made my grandpa-in-law so happy and so grateful. He mentioned a few times that he thinks technology is so cool because he can see people all around the world, especially family members he would not usually see, on a screen and talk to them in real-time.
This is a hard time in our family, but media is actually making it a little bit better.
Usually, when I think of media, I think of all of the negative things about it. After this weekend, I am extremely thankful for media, and I hope to use it more in my life for uplifting and positive purposes.
xo
PM
I recently came to the same realization about facetime and how great that type of media can be since my husband is gone for a month. It really does make a difference and I am glad you found a way to make a difficult situation like that a little better.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it's important to recognize that there really is good when it comes to the media! I'm in this Child Life in Healthcare Settimgs class right now, and one thing we've talked about is how kids in the hospital long term have access to family members from all over with just a FaceTime or Skype call. Very neat how were able to use technology that way!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a precious experience. This is kinda related, but Elder Ballard came to my stake conference last year and he said that the Lord specifically has allowed technology to improve to further the work of family history!!! :D But you talking with your grandpa-in-law was making family history.
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