Shhhh

I had just put my casserole dish of pumpkin turkey chili into the microwave at work for the big chili potluck, when an anxious nervousness took over me and the spinning of my dish failed to hypnotize me back into my usual calm state. What was is it? Recipe anxiety? Microwave radiation pulsating into my veins from just feet away? Nope. It was the quiet. I hated watching the minutes ticking away with no way to pass the time. So, I pulled out my cell phone and played my favorite demo game. I refuse to pay for cell phone games and I usually just find the best demo and then make little goals for myself. Example, get 5 lines on Tetris before the one minute time limit runs out. It gets pretty addicting. My current favorite game is “Which Weighs More?” Its a fairly mindless game where you select which of the two items on a scale weighs more. Here is a hint, its the one that is lower from the weight of the object. Pretty lame I agree..but not if you try to get 30 correct before the time runs out. Now that is a challenge worth wasting a few good minutes on. But what I continue to find far more troubling than my affinity for bad cell phone games is this growing trend that I hate the absence of sound. On the way home from work the first thing I do is grab my cell phone and begin to look for someone, usually my sweet wife, to make conversation with as I drive back into Nashville. When I get home I often turn on KCRW loud enough that I can hear it throughout the house. Even when I’m falling asleep I turn on a white noise machine to help me fall into a deeper sleep. I don’t think I’m alone in this trend either. In trading off the quiet for pleasant distractions am I missing time with myself? Are there whole buckets of thoughts that I have missed out on because I was too impatient to live within the quiet?

I Wonder Where They're Going?

"I wonder where they're going?" I often think to myself as I drive into the short tunnel that runs underneath the airport runway a few blocks away from work. I wonder where they're going as the plane momentarily rests and then revs its engines and exponentially begins to pick up speed. I wonder where they're going as I look at the clock and it already reads 8:02am..late again. I really need to wake up earlier. The plane teases me as it spreads its arms out wide, hands cocked slightly upward and its nose cranes back at me as its body is propelled forward. "San Diego, Denver, Phoenix" it taunts and then lifts into the sky soon to be out of sight. Rebecca and I left last weekend for a little getaway to Chicago. We taxied around for several minutes and then away we went giving us the best view money can buy of changing autumn leaves. I pulled my nose out of my book, enjoyed the view, but maybe more brilliant than the red and gold trees was the site of little cars lined up along the road on the way to my work all full of people thinking, "I wonder where they're going?"