I was speaking on the phone to a friend yesterday and mentioned how little I spoke at home. The habit dates back many years to the time when I landed my first good job. Prior to that I was neurotically garrulous. No thought occurred that wasn’t spoken, tortured and shared. Then CBS/FOX took over my life (rather happily) and by the time I got home I was either talked out or still immersed in interior conversations about the office and my professional life and obligations. This mute affect of mine annoys my wife a great deal, not without reason. I guess we’re all guilty of sometimes tuning out the things we should be tuned into. It’s wrong but I find it difficult to change. Anyway, my friend said that he found my information unbelievable and told me that he enjoyed and looked forward to our phone conversations because of the things I said, the entertaining way I said them, and how I strung stories, narratives and "incidentals" together non-stop. He suggested that I might try ameliorating the home situation simply by phoning my wife and conducting conversations that way instead. I explained that Caroline despises the telephone and will do almost anything she can to avoid it. She likes people, though. Some people.
