My son celebrated his birthday today. Invitations went out weeks ago. It was to be a BYOD Minecraft gaming party. Minecraft was a tough choice because he’s into Fortnite more, but he had a friend that he really wanted to come who is not allowed to play Fortnite so my son picked a game that was an option for everyone. RSVP’s were in, decorations were carefully hung, and power cables were strategically placed around the house. And then President Donald Trump declared a national state of emergency.
The party, by party standards, was to be pretty small. 9 children were invited, parents would drop the kids and leave. Instead 1 child showed up. When I was young had this happened I would have been in tears. We didn’t have the Internet. You either showed up to play in person, or you didn’t play at all. But thanks to Google Hangouts (and a strategically placed iPad Pro) we were able to get 4 of the boys to join us virtually via video conference. Sure the virtual attendees missed eating the pizza and ice cream and treats, but everyone was able to sing Happy Birthday and everyone was able to play the game together. Thanks Google for saving the birthday party. Technology can be a wonderful thing.
