I met her when she was studying English at the Balboa YMCA in 1972—thirty seven years ago. Looking back in time, it’s almost a lifetime. Her name back then was Mireya Plummer, now Mireya Roby.
She is the proud mother of Rafaél and Dálida. Rafaél is a college undergraduate student of Civil Engineering and Dálida is preparing her academic college graduation theses to become a BS in Computer Science.
She recently traveled to the United States in search of greener pastures. Defying challenges of a new language, new cultural patterns and a new family; she continues to fight for her dreams. She understands—as well as millions of people all over the world—that the United States is still the country where the wildest dreams can become true. Barack Obama, the current president of this great nation, is an example for all to see. From humble African roots, he struggled on to become the leader of the strongest nation on earth.
Even though she is there and we are here–thousands of miles apart–through the use of modern technology, we keep in touch. Distance has not–and will not–tarnish a friendship of more than three decades. We use Yahoo Messenger and Skype to exchange experiences and describe unfulfilled dreams. Soon we will install webcams and the exchange of ideas and experiences will be enriched. It’s almost like being there—or here—in real-time. Technology nowadays is like a fairy tale, full of pleasant surprises.
Saturday morning–November 5th—her stepdaughter ran to her bed very excited, to tell her that something beautiful had happened during the night. Mireya jumped out of bed and dashed for the nearest window. Lo and behold, the sight outside was indeed beautiful. She returned to her room to fetch her Kodak digital camera and froze the scene right then and there. Then she rang me through Skype. I had been busy all morning preparing my daily posts.
After the usual communications protocol in Spanish, she said there was something important to be shared between us. I wondered what? Without much hesitation, she extended her right hand—using Yahoo Messenger—and slowly opened it. Wow! On her opened hand, through the use of technology, there was…snow—soft, white, and fluffy snow. As her stepdaughter had said moments earlier, it was an eye-popping scene. Do you want to see it?
I’ll bet you do. This is what I saw through the amazing technological advances of a Kodak digital camera, Yahoo Messenger, and Skype. Here we go.
Fresh snow in Chelsea, Maine as seen through the lens of Mireya's Kodak digital camera. (Credit: Mireya Roby)
Photograph of a magic white forest in Chelsea, Maine covered with a soft white blanket. (Credit: Mireya Roby)
Photograph of the ground outside Mireya's house on November 6th. The ground was still covered with new-fallen snow. (Credit: Mireya Roby)
Photograph of the surroundings of Chelsea in the great state of Maine, taken by Mireya from inside her husband's truck. (Credit: Mireya Roby)
Photograph of a small pond near Mireya's house. Notice the snow on the other side of the pond. (Credit: Mireya Roby)
This post was only possible through the use of modern communication technology available to any John or Jane Doe of this world. It proves that with a few hundred dollars worth of computing equipment and proper software, anything is possible. The equation of friendship plus technology plus white fluffy snow is invincible. Do you agree? Good Day.
I grew up only a few hours from the State of Maine and have several friends who live there so I have been to the State quite a bit. I have also been up and down the entire eastern seaboard of the U.S. from Maine to Key West often by boat and I can tell you that Maine has the most spectacular coastline on the Atlantic side of the country.
It’s been years since I’ve been to Main, though, and it was a long time before the invention of digital cameras where one can store hundreds of pictures at a time. The problem one would encounter when visiting the craggy coast of Maine in the pre-digital age was you couldn’t carry enough film or, if you did carry a lot you couldn’t afford the processing fees you’d have to run up in order to see the results. Driving along you’d turn around a bend in the road to a spectacularly scenic view, hop out of your car and run off a roll of film. A few minutes further down the road you’d round another bend and curse yourself for wasting all that film on the last place you’d stopped which wasn’t as pretty as you’d imagined it a few minutes earlier. And that can go on for days as you explore this scenic area.
Maine, however, only has two real seasons…Winter and Summer. Summers are wonderful in Maine. I think they had it on a Thursday this year.
Hello Richard:
Thank you for sketching the great state of Maine for us. Through the lens of Mireya, I’m learning more about it, as well as our readers.
So far, I’m very much impressed. My wife and I are seriously thinking about taking a vacation and visit our friend Mireya sometime next year, probably during Fall.
I love those woodlands’ leaves in polychromatic flames. With my digital Birthday camera, I don’t have to worry about expensive rolls of film as you mentioned in your comments.
Technology rocks!
Best Regards,
Omar.-
Just wanted to say nice pictures and documentary, thanks for sharing.
Hi Martha:
Thank you for your kind remarks.
Best Regards,
Omar.-
Very beautifull palce.. Hope someday i can go there..