I’ve been in a quiet, pensive mood for the past week or two, as the post-school calm starts to seep in. After the hurly-burly of the last three weeks and constant activity has passed, the stillness and quiet feels somehow wrong. I find myself with much less to do, and I feel strangely cranky and melancholy because of it.

It was in this state of mind that I stumbled across today’s NPR’s “Day to Day”, which had the most beautiful, heartbreaking segment entitled “Saving Phone Messages as a Living Memorial”. Here, Dmae Roberts talks about (and shares) phone messages from her mother, who passed away two years ago.

Saving Phone Messages as a Living Memorial

My story has been intrinsically linked to my mom’s story—a world war two Taiwanese woman who never had a childhood because she was sold as a baby to be a servant to other people-her adopted step-parents.

It constantly amazes me how the cold, clinical touch of technology can transport such intense, almost overwhelming warmth and humanity. This is one of most moving, sublime things I have ever heard.

Listen to the segment as an MP3 stream or a realaudio stream. You can also read the transcript at Stories1st.org.