The Coming Plague

Okay, okay, so that might be a bit dramatic, but in all seriousness in about an hour a television larger than I care to think about and its stand will be coming to live in the same space as I. It is a hand me down from Ben's mom that is coming to replace the perfectly nice, normal sized television that is in our living room sitting on a very nice, purchased by me, television stand.

I love the room the way it is. It is balanced in terms of size of room and size/amount of furniture. I also am not a big fan of televisions, especially those that fall into the ginormous category. I get that they fill a function and I've been known to love me an episode or two of such lovelies as Real Housewives of the OC, but prior to last year I didn't have cable and the year before that the television I had was so old it had no remote, requiring one to get up off their ass to change the channel.

It is also not lost on me that there is a pretty distinct divide between men and women on the subject of televisions. I've always liked the thought of having the smallish television inside a cabinet with doors that can close it off and you can pretend it isn't even there. I definitely don't ever want a television in my bedroom. Ben wants to watch movies like he's at the movie theater when sitting in his own living room. In a bigger room that might work, but we sit about 10 feet from the telly as it is and I can only imagine what it will be like when the monster arrives.

I lost on this one having originally thought we'd agreed to 'no on the television'. I heard his initial arguments, but they just didn't do it for me. Not seeing detail on shit blowing up in the Transformers movie is just not a loss for me. Home is a sanctuary not to be invaded by anything that will make it feel less like home. In our initial discussion we talked about several items coming from his mom. The reality is none of them are particularly us (or me, more to the point) because they are way nicer than anything else we own and aren't exactly practical for a couple living in a 1930's-ish apartment soon to be joined by a vomiting, pooping little human. I also am a big fan of handing things around as needed, but also recognize that if they aren't something you would pick out for yourself, maybe they don't have to be yours. The stress of moving everything around when it all works well and his mom's moving schedule made us ultimately decide no.

Then the TV came back like the cat (I am happy about the cat coming back) and here we are. I didn't have it in me to stand my ground and say no, so I gave in. I fear I will seriously regret that as live out my days with a massive television screen that is going to dominate one corner of the living room. Ah me.