What do you do when your father's arthritis prevents him from attending your sister's backyard wedding? Haul out your webcam, position it outside your sib's home office on a tripod, pray for the wind to die down, and fire up Yahoo! Messenger.

That's what Jessica Greenhood recently did for her sister's wedding. After learning her father wasn't up for the trek from Florida to the Midwest, Jessica investigated ways to capture the nuptials for him. She had an old camcorder, but its battery was defunct. Finding a replacement battery in Miller, Kansas (pop: 12 houses), proved a distinct challenge, and a new camera was more than Jessica could afford.

Remembering how effective her Yahoo! Messenger webcam had been for monitoring her family's shop after-hours, she MacGyver-ed together a low-tech, low-cost solution that brought the ceremony to her father — and tears to his eyes.

"I'm a kid in a candy store with Yahoo! Messenger. I've been using it for years to communicate with family and friends. Everyone lives so far away — can you say big phone bill? I've always found it really easy to use. Even here in Kansas, where I'm on dial-up that really only gets speeds of 24.4K," she said.

Thanks for writing with your story, Jessica. And congratulations, Naomi and Eric!

Nicki Dugan
Editor, Yodel Anecdotal