Tag: #dailyprompt

Posted in Non-fiction, Uncategorized

It’s Overwhelming to Relocate

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

I’ve been thinking about relocating for a long time. Years really. I moved to the town in which I live for two reasons. My mother, who lived with me at the time, wanted to move home. The town where I live is my home town. Second, my job was in this town. I had commuted for years and I was tired. Full disclosure. I didn’t want to move back to the town I had called home the first twenty years of my life. But there was my mom to consider. There was my job to consider. So I had a house built and I moved.

I found something out the hard way. You can’t go home again. Yes, I know it’s a cliche. I had been gone 25 years. I had changed. My friends had changed. The town had changed. I had one family member left in my hometown – my mother. She passed away two years after we moved.

I still had my job to consider. So I stayed in my hometown although I told my husband that I wanted to move when I retired. He agreed. I retired six years ago. We still live in my hometown.

There is nothing at all wrong with my hometown. The problem is simple. I don’t fit in there anymore. In some ways, I never did. I really don’t now. It is a perfectly nice small town in a beautiful area. But, for some reason, it’s just not “my place in the world.” In the 25 years I was gone, I learned to like things my hometown doesn’t offer.  I have forever friends in my hometown and they will always be just that – forever. We’re all different now and although I love to see them, I need to be in a place where I’m comfortable and happy. I found that place several years ago.

We finally decided to move. Our initial plan was to sell our house and move, bag and baggage, to the place that we found and love. We knew it would be hard, that finding real estate would be a challenge. We didn’t know how much of a challenge until we talked to a realtor in our most desirable place. We need to be in our place as soon as desirable property comes on the market because property sells almost immediately. We weren’t quite sure what to do.

Then we saw a small (tiny) place come on the market. An older couple had decided to sell their winter home as one of them is ill. They were selling it at bargain basement prices. It is not somewhere that we want to live forever, but for awhile, it will do just fine. We went to look at it, loved it for our purposes now, and bought it immediately.

Our plan now is to spend six months in our new place each year and six months in our current home. We’re moving to South Florida and we aren’t yet sure we want to be here during hurricane season, just in case. We feel really lucky because this will give us a chance to see if we like South Florida and want to live here full-time.

Lucky is not the only way I feel. I feel completely overwhelmed. I recognize that the way I feel is probably normal. Figuring out how to live in one place six months of the year and another place the other six months and they are 1100 miles apart has to be a bit difficult. What makes it more difficult is that our six months in Florida each year will not be consecutive.

One thing I know for sure. I’m not going to be here in the most likely hurricane months. It is frightening to me to think about our little place here so close to the coast. I know that I can’t  leave anything here that I consider valuable. I’m sure I’ll get used to living so near the Florida coast and less conscious of the hurricane potential!

Living in two places means having duplicates of everything and I’m not talking about housewares. I mean two doctors, two dentists, two pharmacies….you get the picture. I will be complex at first to get everything situated. We will need another automobile here.

Life will change and become quite a bit more complicated. I was ready for a change. All of these things that seem to be obstacles will work themselves out with our help. I am excited about my new life!

Posted in Non-fiction

Thanksgiving – Yesterday and Today

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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The United States has just been through a very divisive Presidential election. It seems the entire country is polarized. Friends have argued with friends and, in fact, friendships and even family relationships have been lost over the election. What we need at this Thanksgiving holiday season is to think about the meaning of the first real Thanksgiving in our country.

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast that they called a thanksgiving for the successful harvest. There were also other successful harvest feasts. All were full of the wonderful,
aromatic food from the fall harvests. The key was that the English colonists and the Native Americans shared the food in peace.

It couldn’t have been easy for either group. The English colonists were running from the tyranny of an English King. The Native Americans must have felt like their homeland was being invaded. But, they put aside their differences and shared the bounty of the fall harvest. The American people, many of whom are so galvanized on one side of the political spectrum or the other that they hardly talk to their family and friends who have different opinions, need to consider the actions of these two very different groups on that Thanksgiving so long ago.

On this first Thanksgiving, the story is that the Native Americans came bearing deer for venison. The feast also probably included duck or goose instead of turkey. They were close to the sea so lobster, clams or mussels may have been on the menu. Squash, carrots, and peas may have been the vegetables. The only corn in November would have been dried corn. Nuts like walnuts and chestnuts may have been available. If there were any sweets, it would have been only pumpkin as the colonists sugar supplies had run low during the trip from England.

They had an excellent Thanksgiviing dinner though different from what we traditionally have now. But they had it together, these two very diverse groups with different opinions and goals. I hope they can be an example for the rest of us this Thanksgiving. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #Thanksgiving #dailyprompt

 

Posted in Fiction

Excerpt from The Lost Romance – The Affair

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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They weren’t young anymore. She still had lofty goals for both her personal and professional life. He…..well…..not so much. Rebecca was never content. She may have been 64 years old but she worked as hard as she did when she was 34. Patrick was retired and he did a little work but was more interested in traveling and having fun. Rebecca liked those thing too, but she needed time to work at her writing. Her personal life with Patrick was of crucial importance to her. First on her list. She also had a full life outside of Patrick. Patrick had a life outside their relationship as well. It made things difficult.

When they were together, none of those things mattered very much. They took advantage of every moment as there weren’t many moments. No one seemed to understand that what they had together didn’t threaten anyone else. It was their’s and their’s alone. Some mysterious something they had never been able to find with anyone else. God knows they had tried. Rebecca alone had spent her life trying to find what she had with Patrick with other men. It never worked. It was never there. It was very frustrating.

Rebecca thought to herself, looking at Patrick across the room, that she guessed this is what love was. That mysterious something that you had with one person and didn’t have with anyone else. When she looked at him, she knew. She had always known, that he was the one, the love of her life. But it had never worked out between them. They had been in each other’s ives in some way, even if only off and on, for 35 years. In all those years, either she was married, he was married, or they both were married. Yet, they wanted to be together. How could that be?

Patrick was on the phone as Rebecca was thinking about this. She was watching him, with great love in her heart. Sometimes, she wished fervently that she didn’t feel like this. That she could just walk away. She had tried. Over and over, down through the years, she had tried. She always missed him so much, she went back again and again. How could she not go back to the love of her life?

It may sound foolish to say that, at 64 years old, Rebecca was still searching, still going back to the love of her life. Rebecca had never felt her age. She was young at heart and been fortunate to keep her physical health. She didn’t feel much different than the day she had met Patrick all those years ago. Looking at him, she remembered that day clearly. She had walked into his office and fallen in love. What a day that was!

Patrick was a few years older than Rebecca and was struggling with some health problems. Rebecca wondered if, for Patrick’s sake, it really was time to walk away. If Patrica had still been married to the mother of his children, the answer would have been yes. She was a good person. But a woman had broken up Patrick’s marriage a number of years ago. She was a controlling, manipulative woman who thought she knew what was best for Patrick and did not much care for Patrick’s input into the matter. Patrick seemed frightened of her for some reason and that was never good. There was something wrong there with that marriage and Rebecca wa worried for Patrick’s sake. This woman seemed to feel the need to judge and criticize Patrick as a method of control. Rebecca was quite concerned. How could she abandon Patrick under those circumstances?

Patrick ended his phone call, walked over to her, and put his arms around her. She felt so warm and safe in his arms. She always had though they saw each other so infrequently. They didn’t feel the need for conversation at that moment. They just felt the need for each other. They dissolved into each other and neither of them had any concept of time until two hours had passed. Patrick made her feel totally fulfilled in every way. Any thoughts of giving him up flew out of her head as she lay beside him. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #romance

*Excerpt from the upcoming novel The Lost Romance

Posted in Non-fiction

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Do you believe in magic in love? That is what “smoke” refers to in the old Platters song, actually recorded in 1933. There is discussion about that interpretation, of course. But, smoke getting in your eyes, in a love song, seems pretty clear to me. Let’s dig a little deeper.

First, my own bias. I do believe in magic in love – still. I think it’s rare. I don’t think most of us will ever find it. I think those of us who do find it better hold on to it tightly as we likely will not ever find it again. I think it is the reason that romance novels and romantic erotica is the most popular genre of fiction. We seek to read about people, even fictional people, who either have found that magic or who are seeking it. Look at the book series beginning with 50 Shades of Gray. That book is actually in the genre of romantic erotica as there is love present. It is not pornography. I’m not a fan of 50 Shades because I don’t think it is well-written but it has certainly shown what our society is looking for.

We are looking for the magic in love. We want to find that perfect relationship where you have love between two people – compatibility in love – but you also have to have compatibility in sex. Novels like 50 Shades have shown us that if nothing else. Perfect compatibility in love and in sex is incredibly hard to find. Unless you do find this magic, you are going to be unhappy in some aspects of your relationship.

Here are the lyrics of the Platters song, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes:”

They asked me how I knew
My true love was true
I of course replied
Something here inside cannot be denied
They said “someday you’ll find all who love are blind”
When your heart’s on fire,
You must realize, smoke gets in your eyes

So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
To think they could doubt my love
Yet today my love has flown away,
I am without my love (without my love)

Now laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide
So I smile and say
When a lovely flame dies, smoke gets in your eyes

(Smoke gets in your eyes, smoke gets in your eyes)

Smoke gets in your eyes

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In the first stanza of the song, one line says that all who love are blind. That may be true for very young people but as you mature, I think you can love and see the faults of your true love. Two mature people can work on problems in their relationship but there is one thing they cannot work on. The magic. The magic, the chemistry, between two people is either there or it’s not. If it’s not, there isn’t anything you can do to make it happen. In this writer’s opinion, the magic causes the smoke to get in your eyes, but it does not completely blind you. The magic includes both sexual chemistry and the chemistry you feel from deep, emotional love. You can’t have a complete relationship without both.

The next stanza of the song refers to smoke in a different way. The true love has gone, left, deserted the other person. But, that does not necessarily mean that the love has died. It is a very sad situation for the person left behind and then, smoke gets in your eyes because you cannot hide your tears. The smoke causes you to cry because your true love is no longer with you. Perhaps there were circumstances that caused your true love to leave. I am of the opinion that if you find the magic, the true chemistry I have mentioned, it never goes away, whether you are together or not.

Don’t let the smoke blind you to something wonderful. Try to learn to recognize what is real and magical and what is not. #romance #lovesongs #love #dailyprompt #amwriting #amblogging #writing

20th Century Masters – The Millennium Series: The Best of The Platters (Remastered) by The Platters
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

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The last three weeks have been some of the most miserable of my life. I’m sure it has shown in my writing and not always in a good way. However, one good thing about a writer going through both good and bad situations is that it gives them so much great material to write about.

The crazy thing is that I have gone through exactly the same situation under basically the same circumstances with the same people at least two other times in my life. This is the third time. It seems that I never learn, doesn’t it? That, my friends, has been true in the past. It will not be true in the future. This time, I learned a very hard, extremely painful lesson. Much more painful than the first two times.

The first two times were painful enough and it took me years to recover. Why? I’m a sensitive and emotional person. I think that came from my dad who wore his heart on his sleeve. That made him the best dad in the world, but I’m sure he was hurt many times. I don’t exactly wear my heart on my sleeve in most situations, but I do recognize that I can be emotionally fragile in the right (or wrong) situation. I was definitely in the wrong situation this time. Probably the first two times as well. I mistook flattery for something else. People should remember that words are important. Never say words that you don’t mean or that aren’t appropriate.

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This time, I’m older, more fragile, less able to come back from being shattered into a million tiny pieces. This time,  I was very emotionally invested and the rug was pulled out from under me in a brutal way. I never got an explanation. I’m not assigning blame. I was as much to blame as anyone else involved. That doesn’t make the hurt go away.

Until the last two days, for three weeks, I’ve hardly eaten or slept. That’s what happens to me when I’m upset about something that was as important to me as this situation was. I’ve sat at my kitchen table and drank a thousand cups of tea, trying to figure it all out. I’ve talked to my good friends endlessly and they have been saints on earth to put up with me. I feel like I would have lost my mind without them.

I’ve walked around in a daze because I’ve been so distracted. I would cry and not even realize I was crying. If I could catch a couple of hours of sleep at night, I would wake up sobbing. I’ve written – a lot – because nothing else much gave me any solace. I had no family to turn to – I’m an only child and except for a few cousins I seldom hear from, my family is gone. I didn’t want to burden the couple of cousins who might actually care enough to listen. I would find myself going about my days, living in the same pattern as I did when I was involved in this situation, except there was no need now. Then, I would just cry more.

Until today. Last night, for the first time in three weeks, I slept. I didn’t have nightmares. I woke up this morning and I knew it was over. The acute grief. I felt like myself again, for the first time in a long time. I knew that this time, the third time I’ve let this happen to me, would be the last time. Never again. Never again would I allow myself to be involved in this situation. I was finally able to put it in a little box and store it away in a corner of my brain, hopefully to someday forget it forever.

Now I don’t care what happens. I can deal with it. One of my friends told me today that I sound like the person she’d always know and, funny, I feel like that person again. So whatever this situation, or any situation, throws at me, I can handle it. Bring it on! I made a terrifically bad decision and mistake. But, I was not the only person involved who made a mistake and I hope the other people involved in this situation know that.

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So why do I have a picture of Marilyn Monroe here? It’s complicated. She reminds me of many things, but right now, looking at her picture reminds me not to make bad decisions. Put yourself first. Don’t let yourself be used. Don’t assume anyone will take care of you but you. I want to look at this picture of her a lot right now.

No sympathy please though I thank you! Now I’m ready to move on. At my age, there is no time to waste. I’m going to go to the ocean. Hearing the waves and seeing the water has always soothed me. But, mainly, I want to see the ocean because I can see the horizon. I can see for miles and miles. I need that. I need to be able to see for miles and imagine what a good future is waiting for me. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #shortfiction #romance #marilynmonroe #dailyprompt

I Can See for Miles

Posted in Fiction

Bachelor Buttons

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Barbara flings herself down on her couch in frustration. The damn muffler fell off her car again. This is only the third time. She had to call for a tow. Another expensive tow to the muffler shop. Can’t those people even put on a muffler? She knows her car is old but they still make mufflers for it. She should know. This will be the third one she has had to have the shop order and install. They never mention a problem with installation. She is so careful with her car.

Her nervousness makes her shaky and Barbara feels cold. She grabs the large throw from the back of her couch and snuggles up in it. She really can’t afford so many car repairs but what does she do? She has to have her vehicle to get to work and do all the other things a person has to do. She is fighting frustration and hopes she can just drift off to sleep for awhile.

After awhile, Barbara gives up on sleep. It’s not going to happen. She has way too much on her mind. She sits up, still snuggled in her warm throw, and notices the beautiful decorative treasure box sitting on her coffee table. She smiles. Looking at that treasure box helps calm her. Barbara’s mother gave her that engraved treasure box many years ago. Her mother has been gone for years now, but Barbara still keeps her most special things in it. She reaches for it.

The first item she sees when she opens the box is the ever-present pack of Monopoly money. If seeing that Monopoly money didn’t give her such good memories, it would increase her frustration because, after all, real money is what she needs to replace her muffler. That packet of Monopoly money is one of her treasures that reminds her of her Daddy. As Barbara was growing up, she and her Daddy loved Monopoly. Then, when he got sick, she helped keep him occupied by playing Monopoly until he got too sick to play. She will never forget all those wonderful times with her dad.

Under the packet of Monopoly money is the seed packet she recently picked up at the farm supply store. Barbara goes to the farm store to get corn for the deer that frequent her backyard. While she was there, she walked by the seeds and that’s when she saw the bachelor button seeds. Her mom always used to plant them in the fall in a planting box. By spring, they were coming up and then were planted in the flower garden. On an impulse, Barbara bought a packet of bachelor buttons.

Barbara jumped up, thinking her planting box was in her sunroom. She took the packet of seeds with her. Barbara got involved filling her planting box with dirt, planting the seeds, and watering and fertilizing them. She forgot all about the offending muffler.

Suddenly, the phone rang and it was the muffler repair shop. They were going to replace the muffler for free as they determined the previous muffler had been installed incorrectly. All that frustration for nothing. However, Barbara had already calmed down. She was much happier just standing in her sunroom planting her bachelor buttons. She would deal with her car later. #blogpropellant #amwriting #amblogging #writing #dailyprompt

TBP’s Objects in a Box 4-5

Posted in Non-fiction

Today’s Blog Prompt – Realize Hurricane Matthew

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Do you know what I realize today? I realize that those of us in the Eastern United States, who are physically able and have some skills, need to prepare to go to Florida and South Carolina after Hurricane Matthew is over and the authorities call for volunteers. This is a hurricane like no other that has ever hit east central Florida.

It is a Category 4 taking a dead eye on beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida. It is also going to scrap Florida from Miami Beach up through Vero Beach. It is also going to threaten inland Florida and on up into coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Please consider going to help out if you possible can. Contact the Salvation Army or any other volunteer organization that will be making trips to the area. Thank you. #dailyprompt #weather #HurricaneMatthew #amwriting #amblogging #writing

Posted in Non-fiction

The Lone Oak

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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I became acquainted with the old bur oak tree near downtown Lexington, Kentucky, not as a child, but as a very young adult. It was something of a Lexington landmark and I think it deserves a story. Its own place in history. No doubt, according to the tree specialists, it had at least a couple of centuries of stories to tell since Lexington was settled in June of 1775 and this ancient tree was at least that old.
The bur oak was located right off Lafayette Parkway leading up to Lafayette High School. Barely out of our teens, my husband and I were hunting for our first house and our realtor showed us a rather decrepit small home with this magnificent tree in the backyard. I don’t know if we bought the house because of the house or because of the tree. It was astonishing. Spreading my arms as wide as I could, I still could not embrace its diameter.
I don’t know how tall it was but it was too tall for tree specialists to even contemplate taking it down back in the 1970s. Bur oaks often grow 200-300 feet tall. It was many feet in circumference. It shaded our entire home in the summer with its big, brawny limbs. Every other fall, it produced the most interesting acorns and gallons of them. These trees produce the largest acorns of any oak tree and they often were the preferred food for bears, harkening back to another time in the history of the place where Lexington began.

Besides enjoying the fact that this special tree was in our newly-acquired back yard, it provided a conversation starting point with our neighbors on the aptly-named Lone Oak Street. Our neighbors were a couple old enough to be our grandparents and well-known Lexington residents, Fred and Lois Flege. We bonded over that tree. They took to us and we to them and they became like our family.
We lived on that street and under that tree, with the Flege’s as our neighbors, for many years. The tree developed dead limbs that we had to prune but we could bear to do no more than that. It was an important touchstone for us and for the Flege’s.
Shortly after we sold our house, the new owner took down the big tree. It had become dangerous. That tree will forever be a part of our memories of our early life in Lexington with our beloved neighbors, the Flege’s.
Years later, I moved to the town where I taught at the university and one day, I found a bur oak acorn in my front yard. There are no bur oak trees that I know of in this part of the Daniel Boone National Forest. I planted it. Maybe someday, long after I am gone, there will be another majestic bur oak tree in what used to be my yard. One of our best memories will always be the big bur oak tree standing in the middle of Lexington. #amwriting #amblogging #writing

 

Posted in Non-fiction

Trust in a Relationship

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

 

Do you have trust in your relationships? In all of your relationships – with your partner, your family, your friends, your colleagues? Trust is the foundation of any relationship. In fact, without trust, your relationship is unfinished. Without trust, you have no relationship. Perhaps the most important trust relationship is that with your partner, whoever that partner may be. A spouse, a partner, a lover. If you can’t trust that most important person in your life, there is not only no relationship, you need to re-evaluate whatever it is that you think you have. Yes, I realize that is a hard line. I have reasons to take a hard line on this issue. Now let’s talk about trust.

When trust is mentioned between partners, faithfulness immediately comes to mind. Faithfulness, believe it or not, is not the most important trust issue. There is a more fundamental trust that should exist between partners that comes before faithfulness. If partners have that much more fundamental trust, faithfulness ceases to be an issue.  What am I talking about?

What does the term “true intentions” mean? True intentions mean the real, heartfelt feelings of each partner in the relationship. Those true intentions should be shared between the two partners. If the partners are “in love,” those are true intentions whether or not the relationship ever comes to fruition in the form of marriage or long-term commitment. If the partners intend to carry on with their relationship for the long-term in any form and communicate that to each other, those are true intentions. If the partners intend to be open and honest with each other in the relationship, those are true intentions.

This is where trust comes in. Partners have to trust each other’s true intentions. If they feel, based on each other’s behavior, that they can trust each other, the relationship has a chance to become satisfying and fulfilling to both partners.

Unfortunately, life isn’t always this simple and people certainly are not. What if one partner has intentions that are not so true and well-meaning? What if one partner has an “agenda” that the other partner has no way of knowing? The other partner may develop trust in the offending partner because they do not have full information. Not only does the non-offending partner develop trust in the other partner, but that partner is also trustworthy and the offending partner can, indeed, trust them. What, then, will happen to the relationship?

In effect, the offending partner is lying to the other partner and the relationship has no chance of becoming fulfilling and satisfying for either partner. It could flourish in the short-term, as long as the offending partner can maintain the fiction.

Here is another possible scenario. Perhaps one partner gets involved in a relationship and, somewhere along the way, that partner changes their true intentions. Those intentions become less than true, even totally false. They become something else and then that partner develops an agenda during an already established relationship. Chances are, the other partner is involved even deeper in the love relationship and is even more trusting at that point. It may be harder than ever for the other partner to discern whether or not the offending partner is still true in their intentions. What will happen in this case?

Either the first or second scenarios are not good. There is one partner lying to the other about their true intentions. The other partner, trusting the first one, is very vulnerable in both scenarios to being hurt and terribly disappointed. It won’t take very long in either scenario for cracks to appear in the relationship as the trusting partner starts to pick up clues that all is not well. They will realize that there are inconsistencies and lies popping up in the relationship. It will become a very painful thing for the trusting partner.

When the true intentions of the offending partner finally become apparent and they are not what was originally related to the trusting partner, the relationship will likely break apart. Can relationships like this be saved? In my opinion, probably not. If the offending partner had been willing to establish open communication with the other partner early on, then the relationship would never have gotten to this point. But, the trust has been broken and it is incredibly hard to get back. The offending partner may have fulfilled their agenda and may not even want to continue on with the relationship. The trusting partner will feel like everything was a lie and also may not want the relationship.

The most beautiful and success relationships between partners are those where there is open communication and each partner knows and accepts the other’s true intentions. True intentions lead to trust. Open communication and complete, uninhibited trust is the recipe for a successful love relationship. Those things don’t come easy and both partners have to be totally honest with the other and really work at it. In this writer’s opinion, this is the only way to have a satisfying and fulfilling love relationship. #amwriting #amblogging #writing #AllAboutRomance

 

Posted in Fiction

The Sound of Silence

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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The Story of Hannah, Introduction

Hannah hears the television blaring in her living room. It seems to reverberate in her head and the words don’t even register. She craves silence. Not all the time. But can’t she convince her husband that silence first thing in the morning is necessary for her mental health? Who wants to hear the talking heads on cable television at 6 a.m.? Fortunately for Hannah, her husband usually sleeps late and she gets up fairly early. It’s been this way since they retired. She can usually, but not always, grab a couple of hours of precious silence before he gets out of bed and she treasures that time. This morning is not one of those mornings and she feels like she is going to scream. To make it worse, her husband is becoming hard of hearing and the television volume seems to be increasing as the days pass.

When Hannah built her home, they were not married. She built it thinking she would be living in it alone. It isn’t built to give her a room where she can be shut off from the noise of the television in the living room. There is no escaping it. The only possible escape is the sunroom and it is not in shape to be used right now. It’s currently used for storage though Hannah wants to change that and use it for a retreat. It needs a better heating and cooling system. Other than that, it is a room that could be closed off from the rest of the house and she could have her quiet space. Working on the sunroom is Hannah’s goal. Actually, Hannah’s goal is to live with at least a modicum of silence.

Actually, Hannah objects to only the television. She loves her music. All kinds of music. IF she lived alone, her music would like play in her home most of the time. Classic rock and roll. Classical music. Jazz. She would love to install an intercom system to pipe it through the house. There is no use to do that now. Even though her husband does like some music, their musical tastes are different and when he is at home and indoors, he only wants to hear and see the television. Not music. Hannah wonders why his wishes seem to be the only thing that matters. She has been wondering this for awhile now.

The worst offenders on television are the cable news shows. Hannah’s opinion of their news coverage is low. Her husband watches one and then another all day on the days he stays inside the house. Hannah feels the news coverage is biased. She prefers to get her news coverage from other sources and read it when she is ready to do so. She doesn’t like to be bombarded with what the talking heads have to say the first thing in the morning all the way to the last thing in the evening. Hannah subscribes to and reads several newspapers a day. A state-wide paper. The Wall Street Journal to keep up on the financial world. The New York Times as she enjoys the columnists. She gets the paper copies of those newspapers. Hannah also likes to get different news perspectives and reads the BBC news and other international news sources like the Financial Times. She can form her own opinions without the assistance of newscasters who know no more than she does. It’s very difficult for Hannah to read her news and digest it with the television in the background.

The constant presence of television in Hannah’s household is a bone of contention between she and her husband. Although Hannah does not like to push her opinion on her husband, she feels strongly that having the presence of these talking heads on news programs in our lives is one thing that is wrong with our country and our society. If a person is susceptible, it is almost brainwashing. Then there is her need for silence.

In the short run, Hannah supposes she can have her sunroom renovated to her liking and retreat to it to escape the assault on her ears. The long run is another question entirely. The television is not the only source of incompatibility between she and her husband. Hannah has a lot of thinking to do and decisions to make.