Television

Last night, my daughter and I were watching American Idol. You already knew I was a fan, right? "I love this show!" I said as I alternately laughed and cried. I'm a sucker for this kind of emotional roller coaster.

After the show, she flipped to TLC, where "Toddlers and Tiaras" was showing overweight beauty queen wannabes and their daughters, who though around five years old, are made up to look like fifty-year-old country singers. I said, "Is this Tiaras and Toddlers?" and my daughter said, "Toddlers and Tiaras??" in the disdainful way only daughters speak to their mothers. "You never watched television when we were young," she said.

Was this a criticism of me then, or a criticism of me now? Because I could just tell by the way she said it that she wasn't happy about the fact that I only started watching television since she and her sisters left home.

"Well, I don't watch television THAT much," I said. "Only Jon Stewart and What Not To Wear," I said. And then I thought, and My First Home, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, American Idol, News 14 Carolina every morning and night, Community Calendar when they have those weird programs, Monkey Time...."

Shoot, okay, I watch a little television. And maybe, just maybe, this could be a clue to how little time I have to read good books and write intriguing short stories. But now that Jon and Kate split up, I'll have a little more time.