I ask myself as I sit in yet another family living room in Nigeria. Not bold enough to ask if we can change the channel, desperate not to come across as rude. Having met another cousin our parents have done a poor job at bridging the gap with, I wonder, “What Did We Do Before Wi-Fi?” How did we connect without social media. How do you forge a connection with someone you’re briefly introduced to in maybe an hour visit. Years and years of birthdays, holidays, school stories, loves, love lost and so much more has passed. Yet still, we are linked through our blood. Our lineage is our connection. I don’t even look forward to making new friends let alone new family members.
As a teenager I complained profusely to my parents about the lack of connection with my cousins. Feeling I only had access to a few, knowing that there were plenty more. But, the everyday life of America combined with the distance of home, the gap grows over the years. Here is a generation who doesn’t have the bond of our predecessors. Our parents who grew up on family compounds together. Who spent holidays catching up, loving on one another, being one another’s best friends. Their bonds so solid that even though 20 years may have passed in the same hour that I am awkwardly introduced to my cousin for the first time, our parents sit down and vibe like no time has passed.
Lands away, time difference, language barrier, experience variations, and the lack of efficiency of our parents and here I am contemplating what did we do before wi-fi? But, maybe that’s just me.
