Relaxing in Front of the Televsion

I don't really remember watching a lot of television with my family until sometime in the early 80s when we got one of those Betamax players. That's when my mom started recording her soaps and I would get to watch them in the evenings with Mom, my aunt, and my grandmother. I probably encouraged the evening soap parties by getting "hooked" on them during my summers off from school. None-the-less, I loved that we could record television and watch it when we wanted to. I also loved renting movies to watch at home.

Mom was a major multi-tasker, and one thing I really remember about sitting down for the evening to watch a movie with her was all the other things she would manage to get done. She often sewed or worked on crafty type projects while we watched movies. I remember watching her sit down with a pen and a pad of paper. Sometimes it seemed like she did more letter-writing during movies than any other time. She was in and out of the room, and up and down all through the movie. She'd go make snacks. Sometimes she'd disappear altogether, too distracted by whatever had led her from the room in the first place.

As a teenager, this was an aspect of my mother that DROVE ME CRAZY! I would give her a hard time about it. "Are you even going to watch the movie?" I would ask if she was leaning toward a selection at the video store that I wasn't excited to see. Occasionally I would beg her to just drop everything and relax. "Enjoy the movie," I would say. "How can you say you're watching the movie when your eyes haven't left the notebook on your lap for 10 minutes?"

So a couple of evenings ago, I sat down with my family to watch some evening programs that they all enjoy. Of course, my seat ended up being the one in front of the computer. So I uploaded some long overdue photos that I wanted to share with friends and family. And while I was waiting for each selection to load, I picked up my daughter's crochet needle and some yarn she'd left behind and began attempting a granny square. I straightened some papers. Took some items out to the recycle bin. I didn't go get a snack, although I really thought about. At some point I realized just how much like my mother I've become.

The following day, I sat down to watch a program my son picked out at the library. I decided I was going to give my full attention to the show. No distractions. Just relax and enjoy myself. Five minutes later (at least, that's what it felt like) the credits were rolling and my son was gently tapping me on the shoulder.

"Did you sleep through the whole thing?" he asked.

"Pretty much," was my honest answer.

And I remember those few times when I talked Mom into truly relaxing with a movie... looking over and seeing that her eyes had closed, her head had nodded, and she was peacefully slumbering the show away.