Quiet!

Quiet is extremely underrated. And there's rarely enough of it. I love the benign chaos that reigns whenever my family is near, but I also long sometimes for the long times of complete silence that I used to enjoy before our son was born. I would never undo what I've done so far, my son, husband and all my friends included.

But, as the holidays approach and more and more family come in to visit and I'm expected to go into some alternate warp holiday drive because my son must, must enjoy Christmas, I wish more and more for the quiet. My mother, in particular, makes me wish for that. She doesn't like silence, probably because she lives by herself in a fairly large house. Whenever I visit her, there are usually at least two TVs blaring - each in different rooms - to break up the quiet. Then when she comes to visit me, our TV gets a workout and our son gets his fill since we don't let him watch TV otherwise.

Perhaps it's a failing of mine, but I find the TV to be the biggest hindrance to thinking, speaking and sex. When you're mesmerized and sitting on the couch, it's hard to engage in meaningful talk.

Anyway, that's my soapbox speech for today - everyone shut up and get off my lawn!