1. You either grew up in a different country from the rest of your extended family.
2. Or you bravely up and left to distant lands on your own, leaving your family behind.
3. Either way, long-distance calls are a HUGE part of your life.
4. In the '90s this mostly meant using these call cards.
5. Which meant you had to dial about a million digits just to make one call.
6. And you would get that awkward bit where you all have to pass around the phone.
7. Now, you're reliant on Skype.
8. Which means at least 10 minutes at the start of every conversation consisting of nothing but "Can you see me? Am I moving?"
9. Actually scheduling those Skype calls is an issue in itself.
10. And your older relatives are probably convinced that they need to shout in order for you to hear them.
11. And are unaware at what distance they should hold whatever device they're using from their face.
12. Basically, you spend most Skype conversations explaining how to use Skype.
13. Every big event requires you to schedule some time to give and receive calls.
14. You've probably gotten really good at figuring out time differences.
15. But it gets super difficult when you take into account that not every country adjusts their clocks to summer/winter time.
16. And if you get a phone in the middle of time you know it's probably your grandma, who forgot she lives in a time zone six hours ahead of you.
17. Every summer you have to make the difficult decision between visiting them or going somewhere new for your holiday.
18. And if you visit, it has to be for a SIGNIFICANT PERIOD OF TIME.
19. Sending gifts to your family probably costs more than the gifts themselves.
20. You've come to accept that no S.O. will ever get to meet your grandparents unless they're really fucking special.
21. You sometimes get jealous of people who live close to their extended family and can have big family gatherings.
22. Other times, you only feel relief that you don't have to put up with so much inevitable family drama.
23. But being so far away from them ensures that you never take time with them for granted.
