The Only Child Diaries Podcast
The Only Child Diaries Podcast
The Brochure on the New York Times
Have you ever broken a promise to yourself for something that unexpectedly connected you to someone you've lost? That's exactly what happened when I subscribed to The New York Times after vowing never to accumulate publications again.
When we moved from our apartment a few years ago, we discovered mountains of magazines and newspaper clippings tucked away in closets and corners—evidence of my fundraising career, my husband's modeling hobby, and our shared love of reading. The sheer volume prompted a solemn vow: no more paper subscriptions. Yet here I am, with daily delivery of The New York Times in all its physical glory.
The newspaper has become more than just a source of information. With its quality reporting and surprisingly superior paper texture, it has unexpectedly transported me back to memories of my former boss Ruth, who always had The New York Times with her in the office. This month would have been her 76th birthday, four and a half years after her unexpected passing. As I turn each page, I feel connected to her unique, quirky personality that left such an impression on everyone she met. The newspaper has become a bridge between past and present, a tangible reminder of someone important.
Now I face a new challenge: the practice of "reading and letting go" rather than saving interesting articles. It's a small but meaningful exercise in impermanence that feels particularly poignant as I simultaneously help organize a memorial service for a friend's mother and set up Halloween decorations in the sweltering heat. Life continues its flow, and perhaps this newspaper subscription is teaching me to appreciate the moment without needing to preserve everything physically.
Join me next week as we tackle another topic together. If this resonated with you, please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast, leave a rating, and share with a friend who might enjoy these conversations about navigating adulthood with humor and light.
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She loved to read. She loved to take in news. Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.
Tracy:Today, I want to talk to you about the New York Times. Now, it's related to things, so hold on, keep listening. We recently started a subscription to the New York Times just because there seemed to be a lot of articles in the paper that we heard about through different sources that we wanted to read. And, as you probably know, if you don't subscribe to a publication, you can't even read the articles online. You can't even read the articles online. So we decided to take the jump and subscribe, and not just subscribe to the electronic version, but to really take that leap and subscribe to the paper version as well, to be delivered seven days a week. We really jumped all in. Now, this was a big decision for us, because if you're a regular listener, you know that, or maybe you remember that when we moved out of our apartment, well, I kind of made a pact with myself to not subscribe ever again to any publications. We found packed in the closet, packed in some little corners of the rooms, that there were boxes and boxes of magazines and newspaper articles. And, granted, when I started my job as my jobs, my career as a fundraiser, I would comb through the newspapers and save articles about different people that I thought might be prospects for me, right For whatever organization I was working on working with, and so I would tend to keep a lot of articles. I also really enjoyed magazines. I would go shopping at the grocery store on a regular basis and if somebody that I liked was on the cover, let's say, of People magazine, I bought the issue.
Tracy:My husband and I also love to frequent magazines nearby Burbank and go see a movie. Back when we'd go see movies all the time in person before COVID, and there was a newsstand over there. I don't think it's there anymore. I think it's really hard to find a newsstand that had a variety of all kinds of different publications, including magazines from the UK et cetera. And my husband is a modeler. He loves airplane model kits, especially World War II airplanes, and so he would find these magazines that had often come from the UK that he would buy maybe two or three or four at a time and they were expensive because they were imports, maybe $15 or well, let's just say they were expensive. So we held onto those. And he was also looking at bass player, like bass player magazine or different musician magazines, and and I also, boy, I also subscribed to country living magazine.
Tracy:That came to the house and I have to say, oh gosh, I really love magazines and I really enjoyed reading the LA times, love magazines and I really enjoyed reading the LA Times. Because we're in LA and I really love the LA Times and I come from a family that really enjoyed their newspapers. My mom did subscribe to oh gosh, I think, three papers or four papers. There's the local paper, she got the Daily News, she did get the LA Times and then my dad got the paper in the city where he had spent a lot of his time. So we got a lot of newspapers. Okay, so we took the jump, we got the New York Times. Now it just started about 10 days ago, right.
Tracy:So, and granted, it's not a huge paper anymore, like papers were back in the day when I was younger. Did you notice that? When I was younger, did you notice that they're smaller? But I love the New York Times because I think that the articles are really in depth, I think the reporting is really well done. Granted, there's probably more of a liberal slant to it, and I'm liberal, my husband's liberal, so that's okay. I mean, sure, some of the articles maybe are not on the liberal side, but that's okay, I guess um, I'm just joking but the the articles are really good, they're really well written and there's always, you know, good photographs. I like the puzzles. There's even though I'm not in New York there's culture, there's business, there's art, there's all sorts of things. It's not huge though. It's not a huge commitment, but sometimes reading the articles is somewhat of a commitment. Anyway, I digress.
Tracy:So, reading the paper, the days that we've had it, I've been reminded of my former boss, ruth, because she always subscribed to the New York Times and she always had it around the office. And this is my boss, the one who passed away unexpectedly. She passed away on vacation and she loved to read, she loved to take in news. I believe that she did also subscribe to the LA Times. But she loved the New York Times and reading it, as I have, and I can't say that I've ever really bought it or I've never subscribed to it. Actually, my mother-in-law, when she would come out to visit, she would go in the mornings to get the paper, usually with my brother-in-law, and they would often pick up a New York Times and I would see her reading it. She was in Florida, florida, and I think, oh, that's okay, that's interesting. But now I understand why. I understand the attraction to the paper and the paper itself.
Tracy:The actual paper that they use is different quality paper. It's better quality paper than any newspaper I've ever touched. Does that make sense? That's a weird thing to say, but it just seems like it's high quality paper, it's a high quality product. Now talk to me in six months to see if we have a stack of newspaper around, because for me it's really hard to not keep things right. It's just going to be a real lesson in letting go reading and letting go.
Tracy:But um, and then there's also it's not just me, I have to make sure that my husband has ingested the paper as well before before we um put it in the recycle bin. But anyway, that's what we've done. And, yes, it does remind me of my boss, my boss Ruth, and I've been thinking about her, especially this month, because this is her birthday month and she would have been 76 this weekend. Um, she died just over four years well, four and a half years ago now, and she was, you know, the kind of person that really really made a uh, an impression on you. She really made an impression on, I think, everybody that she met, um, because she was really a unique individual, everybody that she met, because she was really a unique individual, unique in a good way, in a kind of a quirky, let's say quirky way, but hard to forget. Let's just say that.
Tracy:So, anyway, that's my newspaper news, and other than that, we are proceeding with our Halloween decorating outside. We've gotten up I would say, gosh, maybe 20% of, probably not even 20%, 15%, it's been hot but it's been humid, probably not even 20%, 15%, it's been hot, but it's been humid here. And we have gotten up some things. I worked on it yesterday as well and I was dying it was so hot until about four, five, and then it's pretty reasonable outside, but then you lose the light around seven, so you have kind of limited time. I felt like I had accomplished something and that I did get everything that's Halloween, I believe out of the garage, and this was quite a feat because the Halloween stuff is behind the Christmas stuff, which is the stuff that went in last. So I had to move a lot of the Christmas stuff out and then get the Halloween stuff out and then put the Christmas stuff back in, and there's a lot, and we're going to have more Halloween stuff this year to put in, and that's a little scary because we're really going to have to do some major organizing in the garage to get everything in. And it really needs to happen. It really does need to happen. But only one person my husband and I are only two people, let's put it that way. What else Still so this week is also the memorial, finally the memorial for my friend, my friend's mother, my friend she's also my friend Neliya, who passed away at the end of June.
Tracy:No, she was cremated, so no, she's not going to be there because that would be scary. But it's finally the Memorial Mass and the Celebration of Life lunch that's coming up on Friday, and so I've been helping to plan that with her daughter, and so there's just a lot to do, but I'm trying to get to finish the interview that I recorded with Leslie that you've heard about, you've heard me talk about, you've heard me talk about this. So lots to do. Fall is a busy time. I hope that all of you are experiencing some cooler weather, wherever you are, and I feel like the summer weather is going to last for a while longer. But that's just me. Now I have to go out and work on some Halloween decorations Next week. Work on some Halloween decorations. Next week we're going to tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me.
Tracy:If you like this episode. Please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms. You might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the only child diaries.
