#77- Calling Cards

I was getting so jealous of my girlfriend being in Paris that I picked up a calling card and dialled her number yesterday in hopes of getting a slight whiff of intoxicating crepe aroma or catching the sound of a man serenading cafe-goers with an accordion.

All I ended up smelling was my running clothes I was too lazy to put away and the sound filling my room was the pesky little squirrel who sits outside my window and yells at odd hours of the day and night.

But the call gave me something much more special than crepe odors and musically inclined Frenchmen. It gave me the chance to talk to my girlfriend and hear about her trip.

It was great to hear the excitement in her voice when she was telling me about seeing the Eiffel Tower or the anticipation as she talked about plans to travel outside the city. Not to mention that it was really helpful to learn how to skip a four hour line and get into the Louvre for free.

And it was all thanks to that calling card I picked up.

The way we can travel now in days has always induced wonder in me. You can fall asleep in one continent and wake up in another. But what is just as amazing is how we can communicate over such large distances, it's like magic. I can pick up a card, any card (as long as it's an international calling card) and be talking to someone thousands of kilometres away as if they were beside me.

This connection brings us closer together than ever before. We can share so many things with people we've never met or those we have known our entire lives. It's an amazing opportunity to learn, to love and to explore and the small card I bought at the corner store down the street is where it all starts.

So I am grateful for calling cards. I am grateful they are a gateway to whole other cultures and experiences a world away. I am grateful they can act as a line to those I care about and that it can be a tool to open up my imagination with their stories. They may not be your typical greeting cards, but they welcome you to a world of possibilities.