Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Only a Matter of Time

It was bound to happen sooner or later and yesterday, it finally did. Yesterday I tried to "pause" my husband.

I will be the first to admit that I love having a DVR. My life has changed: I no longer spend time watching commercials, ever. I don't flip out if one of the kids gets out of bed to ask me a silly question during my favorite show. If I see an ad for cool show, I can arrange to record it in a matter of seconds. I can't go back to regular TV...I won't go back.

So last night after cleaning up the dinner mess and sending the kids off to get their pajamas on, I settled in for a little Jeopardy. With in minutes, Robert came in the room and asked me to pause Jeopardy so he could tell me something he had heard on NPR. (Something about how the biggest deterrent to burglaries is a locked door.)

I was listening intently when anywhere from 1 to 3 boys came downstairs. It has evidently never once occurred to any of my children that I could possibly be in a conversation that doesn't include them. In fact, I think it completely eludes them that I am not ready to fully engage in absolutely anything they would think to say at any time of the day or night. When I hold a phone to my hear, the phone somehow becomes invisible. Any conversation I have is somehow occurring at frequencies not audible to my children. It's truly bizarre.

This was the case last night when the kids came in the room during my conversation with Robert. As a reminder, Jeopardy was paused, Robert was talking and one of the boys chimes in with something like, "Mom, I'm thirsty I need a drink, I'm thirsty I need a drink, drink, get me a drink, I'm thirsty, drink, drink, drink."

With my hand on the remote my thumb hit the pause button. This automatic response was completely subconscious. In essence, I wanted to pause Robert, take care of the incessant drink-whine, un-pause Robert, finish listening to his home safety lecture and get back to Jeopardy as quickly as possible.

Instead, hitting the pause button started Jeopardy again and exposed my desire to pause Robert. Did I mention it was a subconscious desire?

3 comments:

Stephanie F. said...

I have had TiVo for about 8 years now. I frequently find myself trying to rewind events that happen in real life, or the radio.

Emily said...

Hey Afton,
You crack me up! I confess I have been looking in on your blog for the past month...through Corrin's blog. Remember me? The former widow now mother of 5 Emily....Anyway we are back in town and no longer in Utah. Would love to here from you. I still have pictures of Ethan and Madeline....email me or go to my blog at lainggang.blogspot.com.

Heidi P said...

haha That is too funny!