[Pictured above: Mr. Tom Ryan, rockstar, hat afficionado, uneducated and unmarried.]
This story in the Times, strangely compelling and depressing; it includes the life of Mr. Ryan.
Tom Ryan used to share a home outside Denver with a girlfriend but now lives alone, enjoying the ability to keep the house as he pleases. That includes a hat rack covered with dozens of commemorative baseball caps.The man is "fastidious". This story deserves a daytime Emmy. And what's with the last line? "though the phone never rang, he was free for dinner"? If no one ever calls you, will you ever have plans? I would maybe replace 'expectedly' for 'though'.
Mr. Ryan, 54, an electronics specialist who lives outside Denver, bought his ranch house with a girlfriend over a decade ago. He had to buy out his girlfriend quickly when the relationship suddenly ended — or else lose his home.
Mr. Ryan, who attended music college for a year and spent his 20’s singing in a local rock band, did not feel ready [for marriage].
He learned to enjoy the silence and the ability to be as fastidious at home as he pleased.
When he walks in the front door after a weekend trip or a run or a bike ride, he often puts a commemorative baseball cap on his coat rack, and now, about three dozen hats cover the rack, with no apparent space for a purse or a diaper bag.
Mr. Ryan, too, said he enjoyed being single. He stood talking in his kitchen on a Saturday when he had no plans other than a solo bike ride. It was a slow weekend day — his birthday, in fact — and though the phone never rang, he was free for dinner.
