Four Miles From Boring

Ending a Tradition

In this season of doing things for the sake of tradition, I will be ending one of mine. Tomorrow, I am canceling my subscription to the Boston Globe.

After more than a year of delivery, and countless, unopened papers in the recycling bin, I figured there's a better way to spend the 30 dollar delivery fee.

We did a little experiment last month...and who doesn't love a little exercise in the name of science, right? We put the paper on vacation hold for a few weeks, just to see if we really missed the paper. Guess what? We didn't. And Nick didn't miss taking out all that recycling every week, either.

And while the subscription may be coming to an end, I will stay true to just one newspaper tradition. Sunday. Glorious, wonderful Sunday! Could there be anything better on a cold, almost winter morning, than a cup of coffee, a warm blanket, and pages and pages of ideas and ads?

The Birth of the Sunday Morning Newspaper Tradition: let's go back to my childhood, shall we? Growing up, the tradition started by watching my mother dissect and sort the sections of our Oregonian. Then guarding her piles, making sure she's the first to read each part before giving it up for mass consumption by the rest of us piled on her bed. Guess what, Mom, I didn't lick that off the walls, either. That paper is all mine (except sports, and the ads for electronics stores). The ads pulled out, the needless sections discarded, and the rest organized into the proper reading order. I could sit here for hours, just reading and reading...

And every Sunday from now on, I'll be schlepping to the store to get in line for my copy. All in the name of tradition.

posted by Allison @ 6:54 AM