Teaching My Dad to Text Emojis

My father is seventy-six and has resisted emojis for years. "I have words," he said. "I don't need little cartoons."

Then my sister had a baby, and the family group chat became an avalanche of hearts, crying-laughing faces and tiny baby bottles. Dad felt left out. He called me and asked, quietly, how to "do the little faces."

I walked him through it on the phone for forty-five minutes. He practiced on me first. He sent me a pizza, a cow, and an eggplant, in that order, with no explanation.

The next day he sent the family chat a photo of the baby with nine hearts and a sun. Then he discovered the dancing lady and has used her in every message since, including "Going to the dentist."

He has words. He also has the dancing lady now, and honestly, she suits him.