All week we've been hearing about politics. I'll tell you what's political in a male-female relationship, or a sports fan-sports widow relationship: Time. I'll tell you about a turf war: Football. In the days of yore, there were only three stations and Monday Night Football, but now football oozes into every crevice of our lives. The Safeway cashier talks about how the game is keeping shoppers at home, the pastor references the game in his sermon, the flat screen TV in your local restaurant intrudes on your night out, the sports commentator on the radio blasts while your fan searches for a parking space, and worst of all Saturdays and Sundays are dominated by college and professional football.
At the crux of it, it's all about time: me time, we time as a couple, we time as a family AND, of course, equity. There really is no equivalent to sports fanatacism in most women's lives. We laughlingly say shopping is an antidote, but the fact is that two things curtail our shopping - time and, sadly, budget! My husband easily spends about 10-15 hours a week on sports, but the times where the parity rubs me wrong are the long 2 to 3-hour stretches. When you have young children, someone has to shepherd them. This is time I want back.
One of my survival strategies as a Sports Widow is my monthly, 16-year-old Movie Club (we call it the Lazy Woman's Book Club). Knowing that I can look forward to this evening takes away some of the sting. Here are the elements of a good Movie Club.
• Select a group of 6-8 of your favorite women, preferably with a variety of personalities and tastes.
• Alternate who plans or hosts the Movie Night.
• The host has two options: Invite everyone to her house, in which case she usually prepares the main dish and assigns others dishes and beverages, OR
• Arrange to meet the gals at a local theatre and grab a glass of wine and food afterwards. When possible, we select movies that are playing at our local shrines here in Seattle: The Egyptian, Harvard Exit, Seven Gables, places with atmosphere.
• The best thing about Movie Club is the variety of movies you can see. We've watched everything from old Hitchcock classics and screwball comedies to contemporary movies. The best source for movie treasures here in Seattle is Scarecrow Video, but be warned: When renting some movies, you may have to agree to forfeit your most precious possessions if you lose or damage the movie.
• I confess we're light on academic, cinematic discussion and heavy on hors' d'oeuvres, wine and social conversation, but it's a win everytime. And, we track our Movie Club lifespan by our unofficial mascot, one of the member's sons named Christopher, who was a baby when we started and is now 16.
What do you do for me time?
Life is a contact sport. Seize the remote, and watch a good movie.
The Sports Widow
(aka Nan Hall)
Listen to the Sports Widow every Friday at 8:00am (PST) on Chat with Women Radio KNNW Seattle @ 8:00am or download a podcast
Check out Sports Widow in the news: Chicago Tribune: Fall's Biggest Bumper Crop? Sports Nuts
