In 6th grade for Christmas I got my grandma the new apple desktop. I went all the way to California to set it up, with the hope it would keep my family more in touch with her. I made her an email account, showed her how to use it, and did everything I possibly could to make her happy. Though my mom and dad liked the idea of staying connected, we were sure that though Grandma claimed she would use the computer, when we got home she would stop, and it would sit on her desk collecting dust.

But to our surprise, we were completely wrong. To this day she uses her computer more then anyone I know. She sends everyone she has ever met at least 20 emails a day. From funny youtube links, to chain mail she has collected, and even stories told from her dogs perspective, she finds the time to send them all. As a 14 year old, I have to admit that I occupy most of my free time on the computer. Wether I am on Facebook or doing homework, I spend a fair amount of time surfing the web. But even I, a some what tech savvy teenager, does not come close to spending half the amount of time emailing as she does.

My grandmother's daily routine is very boring. She starts out everyday with a two mile run that nether she nor her dog can complete. Then, when she gets home, after making a pot of coffee that will never be finished, she goes into her small dark office, turns on NCIS reruns on her 50 year old TV, and searches the web to begin her long day of emails.

Meanwhile, I go through a very different routine. After I come home and do homework I check my emails. All, with the exception of maybe one or two, are from her. Then I wait for more. After around 25 emails I prepare to respond. I debate what to say. It is hard to decide what to write when I know no matter what I say, it will probably not be true. I sit at my computer for around 30 more minutes. I ponder what to tell her. And then, right as I am debating wether to send a response to the video of a cat chasing a dog, I get reminded of why it took me so long to respond to the last 5,000, I hear another ding “you have mail.”

This happens everyday. Her emails are really the only thing that fills up my mail box. And though they sometimes feel like constant spam mail, they are actually one of my favorite things that she does. My grandma spends hours going through hundreds of newspaper websites and google news searches everyday just to find one article about my dad, mom, and uncle. She doesn't rest to just find one website about the whales going extinct, but she checks her sources and finds at least three more to send because, at one point, I told her that they was interesting. And when I finally end up responding to her emails she remembers what I liked and the next day looks for ones just like it. My grandmother cares about my family and what we like, and through her hundreds of emails shows it. Sure we all joke that they are annoying and distracting. But in the end, if I never heard another “you have mail”, I would miss them all.