Because most philosophies that frown on reproduction don't survive.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Into Great Silence

If things have been rather quiet from us of late, it's in part because both halves of the Darwin clan spent the first half of the week virtually without internet. I'm now in Columbus, starting my new job and living in one of these furnished "corporate housing" apartments, and the rest of the family is in Cincinnati at MrsDarwin's ancestral home -- where the truck with all our worldly possessions just arrived yesterday and buried everyone in boxes.

One of the things I can tell is going to take the most getting used to in this divided existence we'll be living during the week for the next couple months until we find a house in Columbus is the utter silence of living alone in an apartment -- something which, now I think on it, I have never done before. Coming home to the apartment Monday night, especially after the whirlwind of preparation and moving over the last two weeks, was disconcerting. I'd only got half-way through putting away my first load of groceries and setting out food to make dinner when I realized that the silence was pressing in hard from every direction. I could hear the neighboring apartment's TV like distant voices. The rain against the windows. The quiet murmur of the refrigerator. Even the internet, which can serve as a sort of ascii-only pub at which at least some of the regulars are always in, wasn't up yet. As I sat down with food, I found myself switching on the TV and watching a sitcom (something I haven't done in years) just to avoid the utter, oppressive silence.

7 comments:

bearing said...

This introvert, who once lived alone in an apartment in Columbus, kind of envies you.

It's temporary, after all...

Anonymous said...

Enjoy it while you can. Check out a nearby library. Good Luck.

Anonymous said...

Music!

-chris

12 souls said...

i'm on a quest to meet your family. i started following your blog after linking up to it through "conversion diary" and was happy to see you've moved to my town. there's a lot going on in the columbus catholic world. welcome to it with open arms. perhaps we'll run into each other eventually.

Foxfier said...

EWTN/Catholic Radio is great when the silence is too much. I started turning it on in Kit's room because I don't pray outloud very well... now I listen as much as she does.

Jennifer @ Conversion Diary said...

That is so interesting that you've never lived alone. Very Catholic.

I'd love to see a follow-up post to this, with your thoughts on the fact that *many* men in our culture spend most of their lives that way. Hearing you describe it, it is very unnatural to be so isolated, and yet it's incredibly common. I'm sure that that's having some society-wide effect on our culture.

Anyway, great post!

JMB said...

Have you gone to "Dirty Franks Hot Dog Palace" yet? The menu is fantastic.