Nations of the world.

When I lived in Chicago and Sir lived in New York, we used to do all kinds of stupid things, like sit up late on video chat, watch this video and try to sing along.

It's close to impossible.

Two years and a life-move later, I had completely forgotten about the Nations of the World game until last weekend, when the world map shower curtain we had bought arrived in the mail.

After hanging it up in all its vinyl splendor, I stood there in the bathroom, looking at the world, when I heard the familiar tune coming from the other room. There was my Sir, playing Nations of the World on the iPad, a giant grin on his face.

In our apartment, with our world map shower curtain.

Do you remember when you were little and your very best friend moved away, and it was pretty much the worst thing that could ever happen to a person? It may as well have been a death sentence. Regardless of whether they moved to a town twenty miles away or all the way to Ohio, you were more or less guaranteed to never see that person again.

It never occurred to my eight-year-old brain that maybe I would grow up to a world wired up to a thing called the Internet, where anyone and everyone can be connected instantly, like it was nothing. Where my friends might take jobs in London, Milwaukee, Vietnam, Boulder and L.A., and I might still talk to them each and every day.

Where moving half a country away might not be the end of the world.

Despite what I know about the internet, when Sir told me he was moving to New York, I was devastated. But as it turned out, New York wasn't so very far away.

Granted, a bit of video chat doesn't hold the same value as being able to meet at the pub between our two apartments, and creeping on facebook doesn't have the warmth of a hug when you need one. But it's definitely a kind alternative to the untimely and dramatic friend-severances of my youth.

It's definitely better than losing someone important when all you need is the Nations of the World to keep you together.

When there are computers and magic available to make the world small, it's definitely better than nothing.