We have to appreciate these pixelated, slow-moving photos FaceTime has to offer. One person who appreciates it more has to be G-Flo. Gramma Flo is 88 today and if it’s anyone who has seen technology change, it’s her. With only a radio, to the black and white tv, then color tv to using a cordless phone, then using a phone outside of your house, she’s come a long way in history. Let’s not forget about that thing called “the internet” that she doesn’t quite know how to use, but she can go  on YouTube using her fingers to select vids on the iPad easy breezy. Now she can even see me. In real time, over 5,000 miles away, not just on a computer, but a phone that fits in a pocket! Amazing.

Thanks to technology I was able to wish G-Flo a Happy Birthday and see her face when she saw me say it. I sent her mail, which she got on the day it was expected to arrive.  I was there last year for her big day, but this year I wasn’t as lucky. As G-Flo gets older, every year is a milestone. While I didn’t care much that I was gone for her birthdays while I was in college, now that I am out of college, working, and actually able to make the choice to be at home, I feel guilty when I am not. When I am at home, she complains I am not home enough to spend time with her, but she’s the one with the busy schedule. She’s gone during the weekdays going to “preschool” to keep that mind sharp and out getting her hair done or singing karaoke on the weekends.

I talk about my gramma a lot. She’s a big part of my life and probably the reason why I act like a grandma sometimes. G-Flo has taught me why I should be sophisticated and poised and not “blllllahhhh” and crazy. I can hear her little life tidbits in the back of my head even when I am not around her. It’s scary, trust.  I used to think “stop talking I’ve heard this like ten times already,” now I just let her repeat whatever she wants. She’s 88, the Queen, and can do whatever the F she wants. Happy Birthday G-Flo!