ZOOM!
One of the huge joys I have encountered during this crisis is the video conferencing application called “Zoom”. By now, most of you know about this miraculous bit of technology. Someone invites me, I click the link, and voila, we are meeting on my laptop!
During this pandemic I have been able to connect through Zoom in the following ways: church services, a 12-step group, an online lecture series, a book club, a nightly hymn sing, and a happy hour with my daughter and son-in-law.
As my grandma used to say, “What will they think of next?”
Here is one snafu in this miraculous tool: Zoom does not, let’s say, highlight our best physical features. In fact, just the opposite. When I am chatting with a group, I am stunned by how my neck looks. I try adjusting the screen so that the wrinkles don’t show, I casually put my hand on my chin to indicate that I am really thinking hard about something, when in fact I am covering my turkey neck.
My friend, Laura, says she does a virtual book club too, except they do it on the phone because some of the participants can’t stand how they look on Zoom.
I was comforted last night as I connected on Zoom with a man whom I know to be very good-looking in “real life”. Last night he looked well, actually kind of awful. So, I take comfort in knowing that even the “beautiful ones” are reduced to “just all right looking”, like the rest of us.
I am so thankful to the person who invented Zoom. It’s helped me keep connections with my people, all while keeping me humble about my neck.