Day 98

Day 98: Real Time
Day 7: 21 Day Complaint Free Journey



I love reading the newspaper. The actual paper is what I mean, not the virtual version so many large newspaper companies are slapping on the computer screen. I saw one that even had little thumbs in the lower corner to “turn” the pages.

It’s a habit my father instilled in me through his example. Now that he is gone, I have to rely on one of my thousands of mental images of him sitting in the easy chair with the newspaper held in front of him as he sipped his coffee.

I have tried to read the news on-line, I really have. It’s cheaper and it keeps your fingers free of black ink. Over the years, I’ve cancelled my home delivery of the paper several times, and then quickly regretted it. There’s just something soothing to me about the whole process. I look forward to it, whether I read it first thing in the morning or wait to savor it later. I just know it’s there.

Maybe that’s it. In a world turned upside down, reading the paper is a constant, something I can settle into no matter how chaotic my world is at any particular time.

Complaining is often a reflection of that chaos in our lives, isn’t it? And we all have it, regardless of how much we try to run from it. But we want everything to be easy and problem-free, two things that simply are not possible by the very definition of “life.”

My Sunday was complaint-free. I enjoyed welcoming the day from my back patio, complete with the Sunday paper, a cup of cinnamon-flavored coffee, and the critters that inhabit my yard. Soothing, stress-free, tranquil.

Day 7.