No television!? What do you DO all day!?

"What!? You don't have a TV!?" That is the response of most people after Chris tells them we do not have a television. They feel sorry for us (especially for Chris) and wonder out loud, "what do you all DO all day!?"

We just survived our second football season without a television.  Chris is an avid sports fan. He follows mostly football and basketball, but I'm sure he knows a lot about baseball, too.  I haven't heard him talk much about hockey or golf, but he also enjoys a good Nascar event.  So how and why have we chosen to survive like this?  Well, on some days (like the last day of the NFL playoffs, for example), Chris gets pretty grumpy.  But I appreciate the fact that we do not have a television so much, and he loves me--so here we are.

When we prepared to move to California from Florida in early 2012, we donated and sold a LOT of our things with a vision of moving across the country with our SUV towing a U-Haul trailer.  Chris proposed getting rid of our two TVs, and we made a deal: if we get rid of them (like he wanted), we don't replace the when we arrive (like I wanted). We were both satisfied with the result.

Fast forward to football season, which brought much turmoil and lots of smart phone ESPN browsing.  There was a *lot* of talk about buying a TV.  We even went and looked at TVs at Best Buy (flat screens with built-in DVD players)...but by the grace of God we survived without purchasing one.

I'm so grateful that we can continue to live without the morning news: traffic accidents; missing children; movie theater shootings and other crises. And we don't have to deal with commercials in which marketing professionals try to convince us that we need more stuff (toys, cleaning products--blah!).  And I'm grateful that John doesn't have to see McDonald's commercials, so he still doesn't know much about the largest hamburger chain restaurant that markets their Frankenfood to kids. During the holidays, we missed all the commercials that make you feel like your life is missing something. I am grateful that I don't have a weekly date with my couch to watch Top Chef or even American Idol or [insert latest reality show that may or may not exploit people for money].

I'm grateful that during the Storm Before the Calm (see my previous blog post), I don't have the option of turning on the TV and telling John and Luke to just sit and chill. Sure, it makes life more challenging. I have to strategically arrange my showers around my children's moods (when they are peacefully engaged in something, I seize the moment). But it's worth it.

Thank you, Chris, for being so dedicated to your family that you make this sacrifice for us. I love you for that--and for everything else you do for our family.