Shortly after Roby was born my family renamed our groupchat from something comedic and profane to: The Robinia Appreciation Society. We did this because we all knew that 90% of what we would be talking about from then on was Roby, and we would be doing it in a fawning, fan-clubbish type of way. 

Generally I send the videos and pictures as, other than Abby, I spend the most time with Roby.

There’s something quite charming about taking the video and anticipating the reaction to it. You always know when you’ve got a good one on your hands, and the group chat seldom disappoints with their reaction. They fan-girl with the best of them. 

These last few days I’ve been working on the apartment an awful lot. Drywalling, framing, soon to be painting. Because of that I haven’t been spending a ton of time with Roby. My sister’s come to take care of her, and my mother in law as well. So it’s from them the the group chat has been retrieving its fodder and fuel. 

While I can’t say that I prefer recieving pictures and videos of Roby to taking and sending them, there is something really spectacular about it. Going about your daily life your phone will buzz; surely some meaningless email or comment from a friend, a calendar reminder or some app I haven’t uninstalled yet, but no, not this time. This time it’s Roby’s smiling face, or her laugh, or her shout. 

There is no better use of a phone than looking at pictures, moving or otherwise, of Roby.