Stuff

When I moved out of the monastery and into my studio apartment in Chicago back in 2004, I had very little in the way of furniture. A folding table for my desk/computer work space; a used futon I had bought from a grad student; a dresser I had borrowed from the friars; a drop-leaf table that Tom lent me; an end table and lamp; and a rubber storage bin that I used as a sort of coffee table. This was quite sufficient for the small apartment. The nice thing was that I had a view of Lake Michigan, which was just a block away, and the skyline of the Windy City.

The first time Daniel, my Carmelite superior, came to visit, he asked where my television was. I explained that I did not have one and did not really need one. He was horrified that I was living all alone and didn’t even have a television. I had the computer, but I had no internet service either.

So he sent the Carmelite students out to buy me a television and VCR/DVD player. They did not ask me what I wanted or needed, but just went out and bought what they thought would be good. So they delivered an enormous (for those pre-flat-screen days) bulky TV, maybe a 27 inch screen, that was bigger than most of the other furniture in the apartment. After we got it set up on the end table, it became the immediate focus of the room – instead of the nice view of the city and lakeshore. They had been thinking in terms of a television set that would suit a community room, not one for a single guy in a tiny apartment. I appreciated the thought, but it was funny. I couldn't afford cable, but my apartment was high enough in the building that I got reasonable reception for local stations.

I probably should have asked Daniel to pick up the tab so I could get internet instead of buying that enormous television.

Tom, who had a two bedroom apartment, had a small television and made a great deal of fun of the big one in my small space. In the end, it worked out for him, because when I moved in with him, the big set came along and made the journey to Wisconsin Dells when we moved up here a couple of years later. It has gone the way of all things now, and we have adjusted to large flat screens in the living room and in the basement.

But now, happily, I also have internet!