Walking the Wall

It seems that we need the noise or distraction a little more than we thought. My family decided, with a little bit of prodding, that one day a week we would go without television, computers, or video games–with a few exceptions of briefly checking email in the morning for my daughter & I, my husband briefly checking the weather channel in the morning, and 1 family movie watched together. After much conferring, it was decided that Saturday was the optimal day for everyone and yesterday was our first day. We all felt the twinges, the desire to flip open the lap top for a quick check on blogs, the desire to just check the DVR for recorded shows, and etc. Some of us (read that as one of us) cheated a bit–the weather channel somehow shifting to ESPN and that same someone who never even uses the computer all of a sudden falling prey to checking something on ebay. Despite such set backs, I think the day was a success. My son thought the day felt like it took forever, but he didn’t really complain too much. My daughter said it was hard, but that she thought it was a good thing and we should keep doing it–that was refreshing to hear from a 14 year old.

I had a little more trouble with it then I thought I would. I grew up without a television set from around 5th grade until I was married. We didn’t go to movies either, other than the few I snuck to in highschool and the ones we rented on film reels from the library with a projector (many musicals). I think the decision was one of the best my parents ever made–I spent the time playing outside, lounging in trees, reading reading reading, and writing–all excellent ways to spend my childhood. Apparently I’m well out of practice as I fought the itch all day, not strong, but irritating–which highlighted that it was definitely a good thing to do.

“There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.” ~ Minnie Aumonier