It is the first week of
March in Jacksonville, Florida, where my mission is underway to find out
whether living half an hour from family — rather than ten hours away — enhances
the quality of those relationships.
So far, the answer is
complicated.
I’m thinking about the
backstory to writer Phil Terrana’s essay, “Strolling or Scrolling.” A
grandson’s visit brought Phil up close and personal with the kid’s fascination with
his cell phone’s superpower. This pinpointed something my sisters and I have
quietly stumbled into since I’ve lived a half hour from them. We’re rarely in
proximity—without a pre-scheduled drive across a bridge through heavy
traffic—at the exact moment when one of us has something to say. We scroll
instead.
