Dear NPR...

I'm not sure we should see each other anymore.  Sure, we had a great run this summer, and I'll never forget all the intellectually stimulating times we had.  There are moments I'll never forget:  Driving to work pretending I understand the financial news, while really just anticipating the syncopated rhythms of the BBC News Hour that follows.  Quickly switching it to a local top-40 station every time anyone else got inside my car.  Messing up dessert because I refused to whisk too briskly inside the metal bowl, lest I drown out Michelle Norris in the other room.

Alas, the summer sun is passing, and the leaves are changing beneath the radio waves of WHYY, your news and information station serving Philadelphia and the Delaware River Valley.  My family and friends have started to wonder why I start every conversation with "I heard on NPR the other day that..." They are tired of my "Really? Well, on NPR..." and they can't take anymore of my asking hard, pressing questions with the soft and textured voice of Terri Gross. 

Sigh.  Terri.  I'll miss you--the enthusiasm with which you say Fresh Air!--most of all.

I wonder if I'll ever fall in love like this again.  I listen to CDs, but they don't introduce each song by its artist and business title, and there's no light, one-size-fits-all musical segue between each song.  It's just not the same as what you and I had, but I have no choice.  My iPod requires the use of blank radio waves, and that only reminds me of what I walked away from: your 24-hour news coverage of what people are talking about and what they should be talking about.

All my best,

Heather