A happy surprise!

I wrote a post on my more personal blog, and decided it should be posted here for everyone to read.  It's a bit more personal/emotional than my normal posts, but I wanted to share.  The original post is here.  But I'll cut and paste what I wrote below.

It's been kind of weird having my little brother half a world away this past year (and continuing onto next year..).  He's been out of my parents' house since last July and physically in Sweden since last September.  He has been serving a mission there and has loved it.  Every single e-mail we get is so positive and uplifting, it's been great to see Kenny's attitude and personality shine through.  My family only gets to talk to him once a week, through e-mail, and then twice a year on the phone--Mother's Day & Christmas.  Last Christmas, Zak & I were in Connecticut so we were up 3 hours earlier than my family in CA, and then Kenny was like 9 hours ahead of their time, so it was an interesting conference call session.  I briefly chatted with Kenny on Mother's Day, er the day before, on my way to work.  Lately he's been really busy with everything, so his personal family e-mails to us have been short and I think we all wish we could hear more from him.

This morning I had a big surprise--he was on-line and instant messaged me on Google Chat!  Awhile ago he said we could use that now and then to talk, but so far it hadn't really worked out.  I had logged on to read his weekly e-mail when a message popped up from him!  They had some extra time on the computer, so they were uploading pictures and writing more e-mails.  We talked for about 40 minutes and it was so nice.  He is still my dorky little brother and I am still his weird older sister.  It was great to chat about just everyday things; I told him about Moscow, the annoying neighbors kids, he told me about the people they teach there, the weather (apparently it's already getting cold and wintry).  I texted my family that I was talking to Kenny and they were all jealous (ha!), but I copied our conversation and e-mailed it to them so they could see our interaction.

Anyways, it was sooo nice to be able to talk to my little brother, half a world away.  I never think about how great technology is until something like this happens.  To think that I can talk in real-time to Kenny in Sweden and not on a phone, is pretty cool.  And it'll get me through to Christmas, when we all get to talk on the phone with him.  I don't often think or write too much about Kenny, because it's kind of emotional for me.  For instance, I started tearing up when we were first talking.  It just made me understand and realize how important family is.  And how much I love and miss them.  Sometimes it's hard for me to be away from my family for such a long time, since I grew up having my extended family around all the time.  So sometimes I feel kind of lonely.  And it was really nice for me to be able to have some time with my brother to just talk and catch up...it really meant a lot to me.  It's rough being away from family, but it's not like the love felt is any lessened.  I'm thankful for my family, and especially my baby brother, and the chance I have to be their Rachel.  And now I'm crying again.