More goodbyes today....

This one was not anywhere near as emotional, but definitely one of significance.

I sold my TV when I lived in Tucson. I got frustrated with myself one night when I realized I had been watching three hours of reruns of a sitcom I never liked the first time it was on TV. I found myself wasting too much time in front of it, not thinking enough, not reading enough, not writing and creating enough. For the first week it was strange, but then I really enjoyed not having a television. I began wondering how I found all of that time before to watch the thing. I didn't miss it at all for years.

Then, one night about two years ago, I got upset with Jonathan and left the house. I drove to a restaurant and ate dinner alone. As I walked out, I saw the yellow light of the Best Buy sign, and since I wasn't ready to head back home and talk things out, I went inside. I found an "open box special" on a plasma screen TV with a DVD player for super-cheap. I bought it. I don't know why. I didn't really want a TV or have the money to buy one, but I was mad & unhappy, and it seemed like something to do. Retail therapy? Who knows. I got home and stomped in the house, and Jonathan exclaimed, "A TV! Awesome!" A reward or gift was not what I was going for, but there it was, this thing in the house again that was always on, always making noise, always distracting from real life....making it too easy to not talk about anything. I've found myself in moments over the last few years, hating that television and also wondering what I ever did with all of that free time I had when I didn't own one. Since Jonathan moved out in March, I've turned it on maybe a handful of times....mostly to watch movies, which I can do on my laptop anyway. So, today I sold my television to my friend Sam. Ironically enough, I used the money to catch up a past-due Comcast bill for the internet and phone (and basic free cable channels) at the house. Even though I haven't watched it much in the past five months, it feels really good to be TVless again.