Ain't Technology Grand?

I spent a few hours on Skype with my mom the other day and got to virtually meet her new boyfriend. I love how technology has made it so easy to stay connected with my friends and family back home. I can text, call, Skype, Snapchat, Facebook... The people I care about are there to contact at the touch of a button, whenever I want to talk to them and see how they're doing. A lot of people take this for granted these days, but I still remember growing up with my dad driving over-the-road and let me tell you, this is an amazing advancement.

When my dad was over-the-road, we had to make plans to talk to him because he could only call once he was stopped somewhere with a payphone. The calls were usually somewhat brief because other truckers wanted to talk to their families as well, but they were never anything less than special. We always had to be mindful of our time limit and make sure that we told him everything that we wanted to before he had to get off the phone. We rarely bothered him with problems at home because we knew how stressful the job was and besides, we didn't want to waste our time talking to him complaining.

Now that I'm on the road, I can't imagine how my dad did it. It's a lonely life on the road, even with my husband by my side. I miss my family and friends a lot and I'd be lost if I wasn't able to talk to them whenever I want or need to. It's made me even more grateful for my smartphone and my new-to-me laptop.

I'm constantly amazed by the things that they come up with--there's a new app that I haven't needed to use yet called Life360. You download the app on your phone and whoever's phone you want to track, and it will let you see their location whenever you want. I wish that I'd known about this app last August when he started driving because it would have saved me a lot of worrying. There are some glitches to be worked out, but most of the reviews I've read say that it's an amazing thing and they love it. Skyping my mom, her new boyfriend, my sister and my brother only used a little data and it helped ease my homesickness. It was a great way to re-connect with my family we left behind and it was a fun way to pass an hour or two of our restart.

Speaking of technology, I also wanted to mention that the smartphone is a fantastic invention that provides an easy way to pass the time when we're going through fields with nothing interesting to see. I have several games that I play on it when we don't have an Internet connection and when we do, you can usually find me lurking on Facebook. For such a small device, it certainly has a lot of power to entertain! One of my favorite apps is iHeartRadio because it means that no matter where I am in the country, I can listen to my local morning show. This is especially important to me because the original host passed away a few months ago. I was so saddened by his death because I had grown up listening to him and it felt like I'd lost a friend. Even though I hadn't listened to the show in a few years when he passed, I was devastated and when the rest of the cast returned to the air, I was listening. If it wasn't for technology, I wouldn't be able to hear them every day or watch their videos on YouTube. I love it and hearing their voices really helps me when I get homesick too.

Another awesome thing about technology is that I am currently writing this while riding through Illinois, on our way to Kansas for a delivery. I'm able to do this because I can turn my phone into a hotspot and harness my smartphone's Internet for my laptop. I think that's pretty neat!

So, today I pose a question to each of you who are reading--what is your favorite technology and why? I can't wait to hear your answers!
~~Manda (Currently in Illinois)
www.facebook.com/ontheroadagainasatruckerswife