The "Making A 'Zoom' Call" Story

It was an ordinary day. That is if you consider Easter Day an ordinary day.  This year it seems to be just that, since most places of worship are closed due to the coronavirus.  We have been told by the Governor of our state to stay indoors if at all possible and if you must go outside, stay at least 6 feet away from everyone you see.  It really is a matter of life or death.  I know, some churches may be open, but if it my church was open, I wouldn't want to take the chance that I could die if I went to church today.  Not my idea of using common sense, no matter what day it might be.  Since we couldn't head to church or visit with our family this Easter Sunday, we opted to participate in a "Zoom Call Meeting."  Personally, I had no idea how to make one, but that's what wives are for!  Carol is pretty tech savvy as are our children, so she arranged with our daughter and daughter-in-law to create a meeting with four different families.  At 1:00 PM on Easter Sunday the process began.  

Our "Zoom" call participants.  Bottom left: son Derek,
daughter-in-law Barbara, grandson Caden; bottom right:
Barb's sister Joy and mother Etta; Top right: Daughter Brynn,
son-in-law Dave, granddaughter's Courtney and Camille;
Top left: LDub and wife Carol.  Really neat idea!

Carol and I sat at our kitchen counter with her iPad in front of us.  She opened a link to the "Zoom" website, punched in a code and password and shortly we were one of four panels on her computer screen.  One screen had Carol and myself, another had our son, daughter-in-law and grandson on another, our daughter and her husband and our two granddaughters in another panel while in the final panel on our screen was our daughter-in-law's mother and sister.  Pretty neat!  The only one who couldn't participate was our other son, but he wasn't able to participate due to his phone not working properly.  We could all see each other and hear each other.  We spent the next 45 minutes catching up on each other's lives as well as sharing Easter wishes.  Much the same as having them all in the same room with us except we were practicing "Social Distancing".  As we were coming up on the 45 minute mark, we began to wrap up or discussions when all of a sudden the screen went blank.  "Wasn't me!!" I said to my wife.  "I didn't touch anything!"  Then it struck her..."We were supposed to finish our visit by the end of 45 minutes," she said.  She grabbed her cell phone and in no time we were all OK with having it end when it did.  At times, technology can be a pain in the neck to understand and use, but making a "Zoom" call gave us a chance to share part of our Easter holiday with the family.  Now, all we have to do...or should I say, all Carol needs to do is prepare our Easter meal.  She didn't want to have Easter without ham and scalloped potatoes, so she will begin soon to prepare a small evening meal to end our Happy Easter Day!  She will make sure our son, who couldn't participate in today's talk, will have a plate of our Easter meal.  So, from our family to your family, I hope you enjoyed your Easter Sunday, even if you couldn't attend your church on Easter.  Remember, there's always next year!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.