#38 – Unplug your TV for a while.

As a kid home in the summers my father sounded like a broken record – “Shut off the TV and go outside”, or “Do you even know the sun is shining?” Our eyes would glance up from whatever talk show/soap opera/video game we were watching or playing and we’d give him a look as we didn’t believe his question justified a response.
What I would do to have those summers back! All that wasted time sitting starring at a screen when I could have been exploring, reading, taking up photography etc. I’ll go all cliché on you and say that if I only knew then what I know now, I would have seen and done so much more with my free time.

This summer I had a plan, a plan to catch up on series of television shows that people have told me were good. I was going to rent entire seasons and get caught up before the new fall season started and it hasn’t happened, and well face it – with August ½ over, I don’t have the time to accomplish such a large task. I can honestly tell you that the TV in our house has only been on once in oh say two months, and that was because I was forced to watch ‘The Bachelorette’ finale so I had something to discuss with my boss.

My summer has been all about reading. Am I turning into my mother, and further The Nana? Possibly. My list of summer reads grew longer and longer, and with a packed social calendar, the time to actually sit and read has grown shorter and shorter. I started the summer with Elizabeth Gilberts Eat Pray Love followed by her ‘Committed’. Next I went onto Emily Giffin’s ‘Heart of the Matter’, then Jennifer Weiner’s ‘Fly away home’ and now Elin Hilderbrand’s ‘The Castaways’. Next up I have Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of ‘The Girl’ series. Where in there is there time for TV?

With all that being said come fall with the new shows starting, I will be once again dedicating at least part of my time back in front of the television. I do long for lazy NFL Sundays spent entirely in front of the TV. I don’t however long for the end of summer.

Anyone reading anything good? I’ve got a beach vacation coming up and don’t it like when I can see the end of my ‘to read’ list.