A few months ago, my wife made a snide remark about how I was incapable of being separated from my phone. She even went as far as to imply that I couldn't last a day with out it. Ok, ok...she didn't imply anything; she flat out said it. I'd like to say that I took her words to heart, reflected on the meaning behind her statement and simply put the phone down. Nope, not me. I'm a hero; so you know I turned a simple request for attention from my wife into something crazy. I told her that not only could I last a day without the phone, I also bet she couldn't last a day without TV. Things snowballed from there. We found ourselves in our own version of "A Christmas Story". Instead of being dared to lick a frozen pole, I was dared to give up my phone; she was dared to go give up televise. To be honest, I never expected her to give up TV. She had called my bluff. Just like a foolish general, I raised the stakes even higher. Pretty soon, Facebook was off the table. Netflix and Amazon Prime quickly became casualties. The whole computer operation was shut down. Then she escalated matters by taking my Kindle off the table. I snuffed out her Kindle in retaliation. And just to be a jerk, I killed her IPAD and held her laptop hostage. At this point things were getting out of control and both of us were powerless to stop it. So, we decided to simplify the situation. All electronic media would be off the the table. No radio, no streaming media, no phones, no computer, no apple anything, no DVD, Blu-Ray, nothing. The general rule was, if it went "beep" in the night, it would be turned off for a period of not less than 24 hours with the exception of the stove, microwave, toaster and the lights. So, from Sunday at 9pm to Monday 9pm, the Greene family went into a self-imposed electronic exile. We were off the grid.
We planned ahead. Sharon bought playing cards and we each bough paper-backed books to read. We even planned to learn to play Chess. That part of the day never happened; but at least it was part of our plan. We powered off all our devices Sunday at 9pm and put them in a neutral location. Neither of us would be tempted. We began our experiment by playing cards. Sharon taught me to play Rummy (Gin Rummy). We also played 21 and a game called Go-To-Pack. It was actually fun. I learned a lot...including that my wife is sore loser. We also read a lot. Sharon actually finished a book. I didn't come close. Sharon and I had a wonderful time reading together. Also, I was able to work out for well over an hour.
As I said, I learned a lot. I learned that it's easy to forget about my phone and checking or posting status updates if I have a good book to read. I learned that I didn' really miss watching TV. That's probably because it was only for a day. But I also know that most of my time in front of the TV is spent trying to find something to watch. So why not cut the cord and read a book once in a while? Reading is great because I can skip boring parts of a story, go back to the good parts at will and, here's the best part, no commercials.
But for me, the most important thing I learned during my 24 hours off the grid is that quality time with my wife doesn't always have to be a big production. Flowers, candy and expensive restaurants have their place. But a quiet afternoon reading with my wife, exchanging smiles, talking and sometimes not talking is just as rewarding. During this time off the grid, I remembered that I love hanging out with my wife. I think I forget that sometimes. In those moments with her, there are no expectations, no agenda, no protocol. We were just chilling. I remembered that nurturing the friendship side of our relationship is just as important as nurturing our romance.
We enjoyed our time off the grid. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be connected again. I just don't need to be. I look forward to more quiet moments with my wife. May God continue to bless the quiet moments.
