Few of my peer-age relatives are comfortable with a computer. The result being that they don't know what they're missing. Among other issues, that of communication and the ease of contacting those they care about through the Internet. I do have at least one old friend of my childhood years capable of interacting through email, and occasionally we send one another updates. Like me, she's a grandmother, though her children took the old adage of fruitfully multiplying their own issue far more seriously than mine.

She's had three partners in life; the boy we used to know who she married while young wasn't held particularly high in my personal estimation, though as a young couple newly married we spent quite a lot of time with them socially. He ended up leaving her and their three children for the greener pastures he saw in a younger woman. When she married for the second time it was only to nurse a good man through an illness that proved fatal. Now, closing in on 80 her boyfriend is in his mid-90s; a Holocaust survivor determined to live life to its fullest potential. They see one another often in a shared social milieu and just recently returned, in fact, from a four-month over-wintering sojourn in Florida, something that has become a ritual with them over the years.

I had responded to one of her emails on her return to Toronto with the information that we would be driving down there some time in the summer months to introduce our granddaughter to the city, to the environment around the University of Toronto, and to enable our granddaughter to take a tour of the university and meet with a course adviser to aid in her course selection.

Last fall when my friend informed me that she and her boyfriend were planning a trip to Ottawa to attend some kind of Holocaust memorial taking place in the city, I was quick to offer them a place to stay, with us. Assuring her we have ample room and would be delighted to have them stay with us. As things turned out, they didn't stay with us; if memory serves she informed me at that time that they had cancelled their trip or something like that.

So I was surprised when in responding to my email she offered us hospitality on our Toronto trip. It's been at least fifty years since we've actually seen one another in person, though we've exchanged photographs along with our messages. We wouldn't think of imposing on anyone the presence of two adults, a young woman and a very small dog, for we also wouldn't think of going anywhere without Riley.

It was a lovely gesture, much appreciated. Now I will have to explain to her why it isn't quite practical, though we will look forward to seeing one another after such a long hiatus. Now, if my sister extends the same kind of invitation, that'll be another story altogether....