Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

As I was thinking about how we connect with e-mail, one of the first things that came to mind was my dad.

He's 78, and he teaches high school. This is a second career for him, so he came into teaching later in life, and he's had to learn a whole lot of technology that I imagine he never thought he'd have to be bothered with. But, he's embraced it a lot more than I imagined he would, and is actually pretty good at it now.

One of the first things he learned and had to become proficient at was e-mail. Though it started out mainly for work, he's grown to use it for personal communication as well. I think he's been surprised to see how much he enjoys it.

I've had to teach him some things over the years, but the best part for me is seeing how he's used it to communicate with old friends and family, and it was a lifesaver for him when my mother had cancer and he couldn't leave home a lot.

He communicated regularly with his brother (my uncle), 12 years his senior, who lived several hours away. Before email, they talked occasionally on the phone, but that was about it. After e-mail, they shared news, family history, jokes and other information they both valued.

My uncle liked to send me jokes and quick notes, too, and I've really missed those e-mails since he died a few years ago.

It's also been fun for me to communicate quickly with my dad via e-mail. Even though we live in the same town, I enjoy sending him pictures of the kids and jokes to share with his friends. I'm also able to help him with computer documents and such from home when needed.

Something as simple as e-mail has given him so much over the years, and I look forward to using it with him for a long time.

I love this little Yahoo! video, it reminds me of sharing with my dad and uncle: