One of my best moments in 2012 was when my partner was hospitalized. That may sound strange, since it was also an exhausting time, but let me explain.
We live in Vlissingen in the Netherlands. The hospital where my partner had to get an operation is in Antwerp in Belgium. That is a one hour drive by car. Most days I visited him: one hour by car, than being with him, and an hour in the car again to get home.
His hospital stay should have lasted just three days, but there where complications and it was extended. Of course I visited him as much as possible, but with a busy job as a radio host it was quite exhausting to do.
I skipped the car ride one day to get some rest myself. And now my best moment comes: thanks to modern technology we were close by, even though he was 100 kilometers away. I got him an iPhone so we could send each other messages using WhatsApp. Many messages were transmitted between Vlissingen and Antwerp, some with pictures of our cat attached. To give him a piece of home.
And we used Skype to have long talks. The picture is a screen shot of one of those moments. His face is in the large picture; you can see his hospital bed. My face in the small picture; I was at home in the garden.
And also special: my radio program is a morning show. When my partner couldn't sleep any more he listened in his hospital bed far away, to my program. I even played a record for him, and he heard it.
Many hospitals in the Netherlands and Belgium provide WiFi for their patients and visitors. Thanks to smartphones I could support him, even when I was away. That was very special. He is doing well by the way.
We live in Vlissingen in the Netherlands. The hospital where my partner had to get an operation is in Antwerp in Belgium. That is a one hour drive by car. Most days I visited him: one hour by car, than being with him, and an hour in the car again to get home.
His hospital stay should have lasted just three days, but there where complications and it was extended. Of course I visited him as much as possible, but with a busy job as a radio host it was quite exhausting to do.
I skipped the car ride one day to get some rest myself. And now my best moment comes: thanks to modern technology we were close by, even though he was 100 kilometers away. I got him an iPhone so we could send each other messages using WhatsApp. Many messages were transmitted between Vlissingen and Antwerp, some with pictures of our cat attached. To give him a piece of home.
And we used Skype to have long talks. The picture is a screen shot of one of those moments. His face is in the large picture; you can see his hospital bed. My face in the small picture; I was at home in the garden.
And also special: my radio program is a morning show. When my partner couldn't sleep any more he listened in his hospital bed far away, to my program. I even played a record for him, and he heard it.
Many hospitals in the Netherlands and Belgium provide WiFi for their patients and visitors. Thanks to smartphones I could support him, even when I was away. That was very special. He is doing well by the way.