Spent a wonderful week with our granddaughter in Vancouver in September. She is almost two and a delight to the eyes and ears. She can't quite say "grandma" so I'm known as "jamma". I can't think of a more perfect name since I sell jammas.

I think there should be a universal rule that says grandmothers should live within a 25 mile radius of our grandchildren. I have to be thankful for video cameras, blogs and all of the other ways to communicate that weren't open to my parents and grandparents. There is something so wonderful about seeing a young child coming flying across a room yelling "hi Jamma" when she knows I'm on line.

Still, I have a strong feeling that, for all of our technology, we just aren't in touch with people as we once were. I feel as though I share the highlights of my life with those far away instead of sharing my life with them. This applies to old friends as well. Once we may have enjoyed a daily or weekly walk together and chatted in a natural way, telling of the minutiae of our lives and getting instant feedback. Now we are lucky to schedule an hour convenient to each other for a telephone call or e-mail exchange.

I think I will go back to pre-internet days when writing long, newsy letters to my friends was a weekly practice. Writing down my thoughts and experiences for them was almost as good as having them walk by my side. I can't wait to begin writing letters to my Izzy. Maybe I'll begin now and her mother can read them to her at bedtime. It's not a bad thing to introduce these techno kids to a great old way of communicating.