"Spend Your Time When You Can."

Both boys love to watch movies (which is all we watch, by and large, since we have a DVD-player but no television). Ian especially thrives on the passive video experience and lobbies for it every chance he gets, even asserting "I think we earned a video," when, in his mind, he has accomplished something that, in Mommy's video-economy, she might have confirmed to be worth an hour or two of indulgence. [These "earnings" claims have occurred when I was with them and Mommy was elsewhere; I haven't been able to get the economics-Matriarch to endorse any of these claimed payouts, thus far...] Daniel likes movies too, and especially seems to like watching them with Ian per se.

And this enthusiasm spills over. They want what's good for me, and since G movies are good for the boys, they must be good for Daddy. Moreover, there's some kind of communal experience to be shared, and it turns out that the power of it only kicks in when everyone is paying full attention. I like sitting in with them when they're watching a movie, just to be with them, but I also like to bring my laptop and either try to work or to blog (about them or Madeleine). But this is a deviation from protocol. Daniel often asks me to stop working on my computer so that I can share fully in the video-adventure. And Ian wants me to catch all the nuances of each much-anticipated moment of humor, fright or beauty in "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," for example, or "The Little Drummer Boy" [one of his very favorites]. So my little compromise of being with them and with the video while actually doing my own thing on my laptop doesn't go over very well.

Today, Ian came running up the stairs and into the bathroom to announce to Daniel the most wonderful news that it was time for a "M-O-V-I-E" [much is spelled in normal speech these days]. Daniel asked me if I'd watch it with him, and I said I thought I could do so later, but I should try to get some work done first. That's when he coined a proverb for the ages:

"Okay - spend your time when you can."

If we all lived in such as way as to spend our time when we can (consciously), I really do think we'd have richer lives, relationships, and selves. I especially appreciate that the verb is the unmarked "spend," as opposed to something more metaphorically-charged. We have time. We spend it. Just putting thought into the endeavor of spending it probably puts more time in the "spent" column and moves some out of the "wasted" or "lost" category.

And he's only five.

(January 12, 2011)