"Hi Grandma"

For several months now, my son and daughter-in-law have been prompting my grandson, Josiah, now 25 months old, to greet me over the phone. Since they live in Japan and I have only seen them on one visit since their departure from the U. S. over a year ago, we stay connected with the use of the internet, phone calls, and good old "snail mail."

Last night I happened to be up "way past my bed-time," so I decided to give them a phone call (they are 14 hours ahead of us so phone calls have to be planned). What to my surprise, I learned that Hans was home on a short leave! It was a delight to hear his voice again. But soon, I got a dream come true - - my grandson said, "Hi, Grandma!" He not only said that, but we "visited" together. I would say things like, "Josiah, can you say elephant?" To which he would reply: "elephant." The list went on with words like: giraffe, lion, monkey, daddy, mommy. But here's the best one (not counting, Hi, Grandma): "shinkansen." It sounds similar to Wisconsin, and it is the name of the bullet train in Japan on which they had just ridden to tour the castle in Odawara. It travels 150 miles per hour and Josiah absolutely loved it!

Josiah, you have made my day! I look forward to the next time we can "visit" again.