It's a 15 hour time difference between Arkansas and Shanghai, China.
It's been hard, to say the least, to have my parents' so far away. Especially since I only get to see them once a year now.
They're hopefully flying to Arkansas in August for several days, but that will be the first time I've seen my dad in a whole year (not even being dramatic) and 7 months since I've seen my mom.
I plan on going to Greece next summer on a study abroad program, so it'll probably be 2 years before I see them next (after their visit in August).
We Skype a bunch. That's something that wasn't really around the first time we were in China, so I'm glad technology has made something like Skype so that I can see my parents'.
Skype has been an absolute godsend.
Back in December, my great-grandmother suffered a stroke and was placed in hospice. I was able to take my finals early and arrive back home the night before she passed away.
Because of Skype, I was able to video chat my parents' who were in China and weren't able to be there in person.
Even though my great-grandma was unconscious at that point, my mom was able to say her good-byes to her grandmother (and my dad as well) over Skype.
My grandmother, her brother and sister, and I were all in the room the entire night.
We were all so tired and wanted some rest, so we placed my laptop by my great-grandmother's bed and my mom (and my dad for a bit) stayed up all night to make sure my great-grandmother was still breathing.
If and when she passed on, my mom was instructed to holler and make as much noise as possible to wake the rest of us up. Luckily, she didn't have to do that.
My great-grandma passed away around 9am the next day and my mom was able to be there for that tragic time.
Most recently, my uncle Chad and his beautiful fiance (now wife and my aunt!) got married.
I wasn't able to be there for it, but my dad was able to Skype me in and see their beautiful wedding!
Needless to say, Skype is amazing.
My aunt and I came up with a great idea to watch movie's together on Netflix!
We decided one day to have a movie marathon!
My aunt Rhonda lives in Washington state and I'm here in Arkansas.
I had been talking about how amazing The Great Gatsby was (with the beautiful Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby), so we decided to watch the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.
P.S. The storyline and script were basically the same, aside from better cinematography in the 2013 version.
It was a little off, but it was impossible to start it at the same exact time.
We texted throughout the whole movie about the movie and it was great!
No one yelling at us for talking during the movie or anything like that!
After that, we watched my all-time favorite movie, Breakfast At Tiffany's with the stunning Audrey Hepburn.
I was also able to watch a movie with my mom in China and my sister, Courtny, in Washington state.
We watched Elizabethtown (Great movie. DEFINITELY recommend it!). It's one of our favorites and I'm glad we were able to do that together even though we're so far apart.
What kinds of things do you do to keep in touch with family and friend's that are far away?
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