Peace to the World.

This is our second home, Riverbend Hospital/Specialty Clinics in Eugene, Oregon, one hundred and fifty miles from home.Here is where our doctors and specialists and surgeons practice. Here is where our grandson was born three years ago on a cold and wet day while carolers sang White Christmas in the big lobby. And this is also the town where I meet visitors who fly into Oregon, reigniting old friendships among pines and river banks/

Our doctors, friends and family are at our fingertip most days.
Personal appearances are not necessary in most cases.

This is Maggie Tintut and I two years ago in Los Angeles, where our children met and married, and we congratulated each other at graduations and weddings and comforted each other during sad times. We don't email or catch each other on Facebook, but our children do, and they pass on information back and forth, to be sure we are all connected as we can be.

We don't have to meet face to face as often as we used to to stay connected. At this gathering, as I walked ahead with Thizar my son's wife, her daughter and husband and my husband behind us, we were about to meet another dozen people, young and old, all stopping their lives to spend a Sunday morning with us all, sharing dim sum, catching up on all the events of the year. Notice how my husband back there is texting to our daughter,catching up with her at the same time.

My writing a blog or two also helped. My son Brian used to read my blog, and at times he'd call to tell me that he appreciated my thoughts on this or that topic. Blogging has allowed me an opportunity to understand my own sentiments about different aspects of life. By sharing my feelings, my children and my friends have known my point of view more often than we could ever find time or occasions to discuss.

Lately, my brother's grandchild tracked me down on the internet through my memoir blog. Imagine how happy we all were. I got to communicate across the continent and another ocean with people I would never have met, with whom we share a great deal.

My biggest joy at this time of the year is to scroll through my web album and discover this picture of my two boys and my granddaughter as we posed for pictures ten years ago, happy to get together for Christmas on the Oregon coast. This must have been an unusually sunny day, unlike the present weather pattern we are experiencing.

We live in great times for communication. We can instantly communicate across the globe and click our preferences for a post someone else shared. Love and War of words could be triggered without much fanfare. Unlike old days when sending a message across the land meant acquiring proper paper and envelopes, current address and stamps, we can be sitting in front of television listening to the news and typing away our Christmas greetings to everyone we know, and even to those we don't know.

It all breaks down to this simple message: we are all connected even when we don't know. What we say matters now more than ever. Let's enjoy this freedom. And let's us wish the world a future of peace and goodwill.