A Sad Countdown

Hello, 2011! I'm trying to sound as cheerful as I can be, especially with psychics and astrologers predicting that Pigs like me will be lucky this year. But as soon as January 1 kicked in, I started a countdown, a sad one that will mark my parents' move to the States. Already I'm sad. On the other hand, my brother, who's been living there for a decade already, will be elated! I realize my brother needs to be with our parents as much as my sisters and I. Thanks to technology, staying in touch with them will be easy, a lot easier than when my father worked abroad when we were still young. Gone are the days of mailed voice tapes and handwritten letters. What used to take weeks to convey can now be expressed in a second - well, with a good internet connection, that is. And who knows? Maybe my sisters and I and our families can fly to them instead.