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That Moment

It’s that moment. You know, the moment just after I’ve composed a lovely text message and sent it off into the ether, and I’m waiting to hear back. And in that pregnant pause between expectation and actuality, I feel truly alive. But then the pause stretches, and I realize it might take a little longer … Continue reading That Moment

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Friday Top 5: Songs of 1998

Nineteen ninety-eight was the year I was supposed to have graduated from college, but that feat didn’t actually happen until 2003. Instead, I was moving to Tennessee that year. That was back before my self-imposed exile from radio, so I was still grooving to N*Sync and Mariah Carey back-to-back every fifteen minutes on EVERY RADIO … Continue reading Friday Top 5: Songs of 1998

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An Every Day Husband

100_2358Most of my Facebook friends are female, and the three biggest variations of their status updates include how they’re bored, how they’re annoyed, or how they’re frustrated. Usually these statuses involve men in one way or another. Either their husband, or their boyfriend, or the boy they like wronged them in some way, and they’re taking out their ire in the best way they know how, through social media. I follow the conversations generated from those status updates, and usually these emotions are seconded, and thirded, and fourthed (sure, those are all words) by other females who seem to feel the exact same way. “You go, girlfriend,” or “What has your man done for you lately?” are echoed on the walls and timelines of women near and far. Are men really that irresponsible and neglectful? Do we take women for granted the longer they’ve been with us?

So, I decided to look at my own relationship to see how it worked on an individual level. Are there things I do that contribute to my wife being frustrated or annoyed? And the startling answer is yes, but I can’t leave it there. What can I do to make sure that doesn’t happen anymore, or to limit that from happening? So I made a list…

  • Sometimes I am oblivious
  • I lack a certain amount of common sense
  • Sometimes I don’t “sense the mood”
  • I say I’m a romantic but I don’t always do romantic things
  • Communication is sometimes lacking
  • I get caught up in daddy-mode instead of spouse-mode
  • I need to be an every day husband

But what does that mean, to be an every day husband? Continue reading “An Every Day Husband”

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The Death of Books

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I am sitting in Barnes & Noble, a place I haven’t been in an awfully long span of time. This used to be my hangout, of course, with its rows upon rows of books spread out toward the horizon, as far as the eye could see. So why haven’t I been here in so long? Life happened, and it has taken me along with it. But I’m here now, soaking up the atmosphere and wondering how I can do this more often. A sigh just escaped my lips at the prospect.

Of course it’s not the same, though, not how it used to be. In the old days the side area by the windows was full of comfortable chairs, ambience if you will. And over by the entertainment section there were more soft, cushy chairs that invited people to sit and stay a while. In fact, it wasn’t unheard of to laze away an entire afternoon or even a whole Sunday relaxing in those chairs and reading my life away. So refreshing. Now there are three of those such chairs, and the culprit… the Nook.

In the exact middle of the store now is a section that has been hollowed out, displacing rows upon rows of books, as well as those extra chairs that created such an atmosphere that I thrived on. And I understand why they did it. I do. Obviously books aren’t selling like they used to, those physical behemoths with spines and that fresh book smell. They’re losing out to so many other types of media, including the eBook, and Barnes & Noble saw the writing on the wall. They jumped in with both feet, and the results are evident.

And I mourn the loss of those books that were displaced by the revolution.
Continue reading “The Death of Books”