[ WP ] Your grandchildren are amazed that people used to travel by plane . `` What 's wrong with virtual reality ? '' they ask . What do you tell them ?

“ It ’ s so easy, you just pop it on and you ’ re on the beach, grandma! ” Jameson smiles up at me brightly, his one tooth missing from where it had popped out last week. He holds his VR headset out for me, the child-sized set much smaller than would fit my head. 
 
 “ No sweetie. ” 
 
 “ But you said you missed being able to take a plane out to the beach, this has a beach on it! ” He looks confused at the VR device. 
 
 “ It ’ s just not the same thing. ” I try to explain with a smile. 
 
 “ But it ’ s a beach. ” His eyebrows knit together and he looks up at me again. I sigh and pat my lap, indicating for him to clamber up onto it. When he does, I give a loud groan from his weight. 
 
 “ Oh you ’ ve gotten big darling. You won ’ t be able to do this for too much longer. How old are you again? ” I smile despite the ache that my leg is alerting me to. 
 
 “ I ’ m ten and a half grandma. ” He smiles widely at me. 
 
 “ You ’ re getting so old now. ” I can ’ t help but ignore the pain just to smile back at him. 
 
 “ I ’ m going to be big like dad soon! ” He crows and wriggles on my leg. “ But what about the beach grandma? ” 
 
 “ Oh sweetheart. ” I run my hand over his head, thinking of how to phrase it. “ It ’ s not real. That ’ s what the problem is. ” 
 
 “ But it ’ s right there. ” 
 
 “ Can you feel the sand, Jameson? ” I finally ask, concerned about how his mother was going to treat me after this. Emily was a lovely girl but she never concealed her dislike for me for wishing for something outside the VR world. Something real to touch. I was just her husband ’ s eccentric mother. 
 
 “ Yeah! It ’ s like rough and it ’ s in tiny little chunks. ” He looks proud. “ I can feel the sand on the beach, I played there a lot today! ” I shake my head. 
 
 “ Sand is soft Jameson. Most sand that is. ” I smile at his bewildered expression. “ When you wriggle your toes in it, it ’ s warm and soft, even though it ’ s rough if you fall. But when you wriggle your toes in the sand on the beach… ” I shut my eyes. 
 
 Jameson stays silent. I know he ’ s enraptured, as he usually is when I start talking about my old memories. And this one is over sixty years old. 
 
 “ The sand is warm, like the warming rocks for your bed. It grinds underfoot and gives way easily. The breeze smells salty and it ’ s cooling in the heat of the day. And the trees wave in the breeze, leaves rustling loudly back and forth. The waves wash up over the sand, making it almost thicken and seashells glimmer on the sands. The sun glimmers over the water like a flashlight glimmering and flashing in the night. ” I frown. It ’ s not enough. It can ’ t push that true experience of being on a beach. 
 
 “ Can we visit a real beach? ” Jameson questions and I open my eyes. He has a thoughtful look on his face. 
 
 “ Not anymore. There ’ s no planes. ” 
 
 “ We could walk. ” He looks at me with curiosity. 
 
 “ Oh Jameson. ” I smile. “ It ’ s simply too far to walk. ” There ’ s a very long pause as he seems to turn it over in his mind. 
 
 “ I ’ m going to see a beach one day. ” He pronounces and I can only smile. 
 
 “ I hope you do, darling. ”
