One afternoon in London I was chatting with friends when Anika picked up a call from KC, on tour with Himsa in Germany. I took the opportunity to check my phone, and there were texts from Rachel in Montreal, Jody in Israel, family members in the states, and a voice message from Gordon in San Francisco.
The remarkable thing that strikes me every day is how technology makes it so much easier to sustain friendships with people scattered all over the world. It would be much harder to live so far from home without these tools – and vastly more difficult in times of woe.
Last night UK time a dear friend sent a message from Seattle informing me that he was having an asthma attack. This is fairly normal but I was worried because last time around he nearly died (not exaggerating). Since I didn’t hear anything more by the time I woke I presumed he was fine.
This morning I had wandered way past Coe Fen and the Clare College nature preserve, walking off anxiety about a different faraway friend who is having surgery this week, when I got a message from Jody. It was past two in the morning for him when he reported Jeff said X had an asthma attack and he couldn’t reach him and I haven’t been able to hail either of you…
Then Jeffrey, in an entirely different time zone, got in touch with the same concerns.
Despite the fact that I was half an hour walk from civilization I was able to search my email, find the numbers, and track down the friend in question – alive but not feeling well at all.
Standing in the middle of a cow pasture on the other side of the world I sent messages letting people know the details of the situation, asking for advice on emergency rooms, arranging rides.
It is unnerving to be so far from a loved one who needs help, and endlessly wonderful that modern technology gives me at least a semblance of connection in a hard moment. I was able to continue with my normal day, phone near to hand, waiting for Seattle to wake up so I could hear that a dearly beloved individual made it through the night.
Once again, my friends are simply the best. I am honored beyond words to know them.