A Night Off

About a year ago we signed up for Netflix and I thought it was the answer to our serious lack of evening entertainment. All through the winter and spring months we watched a movie each week or ten days and I felt like I was finally coming out of the cultural underground. I even entertained the idea of putting episodes from the series Sex in the City, which I have never seen, in my queue just so I would get the cultural references. Although when it comes to TV I'm so far behind -- I haven't watched it since 1991 -- that I doubt I should even think about trying to catch up. But movies! I used to love watching movies. But that was before children. And most especially it was before I seriously considered each night if flossing was really worth the extra minute or two of sleep that I would sacrifice.

We are in the throes of some serious sleep issues at our house at the moment. Oliver goes off to sleep each night only to wake a few hours later and then stays awake for the rest of the night, averaging about 3-4 hours of sleep per night. When this happens I typically go and make a bed on his floor and the two of us lay awake, together, for as long as it takes. I can't bring myself to leave him on his own. The night is so long.

All this means that I've passed by the red netflix envelope on the front hall table week after week after week without the desire to find the time in my day to watch it. Besides strategizing how to get more sleep there are newspapers and books to be read, clothes to fold and put away, bathrooms to clean, and oh, yeah, conversations with my husband are nice, too. So last night I told Nik that I was planning to cancel Netflix. We've already spent $30 on City of God and at this rate it isn't a bargain. But then something took hold of me and I suddenly felt the overwhelming desire for subtitles. If I can't eek out 2 hours of escapism in my week then I'm in worse shape than I thought.

Two hours later I was emotionally exhausted and thankful that I only had some minor sleep issues to deal with. With the sights and sounds of Rio still fresh in my mind I had trouble drifting off to sleep. But as I did a line from one of my favorite movies, "My Life as a Dog ," recurred to me. Ingemar, the main character, sometimes had it rough, but not as bad as Laika - the russian dog sent into space. And he was often heard to say: "It's good to have things to compare to."

So for now anyway, Netflix stays.