Push the button

Everytime I call Kirk in some exotic location (Istanbul, Cairo, Dakar...) I am reminded of a funny story about my Mom. When I first told her about moving to Basel, she had a bit of angst over the whole thing. I admit that I didn't like the thought of being so far away from her either, but I knew that my excitement over the opportunity to live overseas far outweighed the negatives. I frequently reassured her that we could email often, and talk on the phone often (at cheap rates!), but I think she was still stuck in the old world way of thinking. When I had spent my semester abroad in college in Vienna we didn't even have email yet, and we didn't have a phone in my apartment, so communication was very limited. Considering how my much my Mom and I communicated in recent years, I understood her concern that I might be out of touch.

Then, one time when I was visiting her in Madison, I called Kirk in Basel while sitting next to my Mom. He had already moved here (he arrived a month before me). As soon as he picked up the phone and I said "Hi, it's me!", I heard my Mom say to my sister (who was also visiting her at the time): "That's amazing! You just push the buttons and get Switzerland!"

That expression has lived on in our household, and will continue to make me smile for years to come. It's one of my favorite memories of my Mom from her last months of life. All of a sudden, with one single phone call, she felt totally confident that she could always stay in touch with her youngest daughter at the push of a button.

A few minutes ago I pushed the buttons and got Turkey. Kirk arrived there safely this afternoon and reports to me (based on his first impressions) that "it looks a lot like the rest of Europe but with a lot of mosques".