I remember when I was first working full-time, after college, I was tired when Friday night finally rolled around because my body was adjusting to the long bus commute from Dumont to NYC. By the time I stepped off at New Milford Avenue, the #167 was almost a ghost bus, a headless horseman approaching its last stop. I was pretty fried. I had rotated through the few good work skirts and blouses I had.
But it was Friday, so I would often go out with my friends Moey and Debbie in one of their cars to somewhere exciting like Bennigan's [was that the place with the free popcorn?] or another restaurant of that ilk. We would have things like potato skins and salads, I think. Moey and Debbie were both adjusting to full-time schedules, too--Moey in Human Resources at United Jersey Bank in Hackensack and Debbie as a nurse in the ER at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. If we had boyfriends, we did not see them every breathing moment.
When H. and I were dating, we did fun Friday things like eating Indian food in NYC, going to movie houses, concerts or taking the train down to my apartment at the Shore.
After we married and before baby Figgy, we might go out to dinner and a movie on a Friday night, maybe with Moey and her husband, Ted. We loved going to the movies. Still do, when we can.
As Figgy grew, we still had date nights, but then, when she hit middle school, we started being home-based more on Fridays because groups of friends would be coming around and adults had to be on site.
Jump forward to now, with Punchy, age 10. We still do date nights, more rarely but just recently, but a more typical Friday night finds us getting Punch to bed on the late side and getting ourselves psychologically prepped for Saturday morning soccer games and the pre-game scramble to find shin guards, cleats, matching socks and a water bottle. I know, I know, it would be so easy to be organized. But we need coffee, nice big steaming mugs of it, to see our way clear. And my support group meets on Saturday mornings, so I help with all the prep but then send Dan to the game, as long as he's not working.
Where have the days of clinking glasses and sampling spicy, piping hot Samosas gone? Of Fridays being the beginning of a nice restful break between work weeks?
We are getting older. Good night.
TCOY
But it was Friday, so I would often go out with my friends Moey and Debbie in one of their cars to somewhere exciting like Bennigan's [was that the place with the free popcorn?] or another restaurant of that ilk. We would have things like potato skins and salads, I think. Moey and Debbie were both adjusting to full-time schedules, too--Moey in Human Resources at United Jersey Bank in Hackensack and Debbie as a nurse in the ER at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. If we had boyfriends, we did not see them every breathing moment.
When H. and I were dating, we did fun Friday things like eating Indian food in NYC, going to movie houses, concerts or taking the train down to my apartment at the Shore.
After we married and before baby Figgy, we might go out to dinner and a movie on a Friday night, maybe with Moey and her husband, Ted. We loved going to the movies. Still do, when we can.
As Figgy grew, we still had date nights, but then, when she hit middle school, we started being home-based more on Fridays because groups of friends would be coming around and adults had to be on site.
Jump forward to now, with Punchy, age 10. We still do date nights, more rarely but just recently, but a more typical Friday night finds us getting Punch to bed on the late side and getting ourselves psychologically prepped for Saturday morning soccer games and the pre-game scramble to find shin guards, cleats, matching socks and a water bottle. I know, I know, it would be so easy to be organized. But we need coffee, nice big steaming mugs of it, to see our way clear. And my support group meets on Saturday mornings, so I help with all the prep but then send Dan to the game, as long as he's not working.
Where have the days of clinking glasses and sampling spicy, piping hot Samosas gone? Of Fridays being the beginning of a nice restful break between work weeks?
We are getting older. Good night.
TCOY
- Private Benjamin appointment.
- Last blowout in my pack of five.
- Iced coffee.
- Kim, I bought those Wasa crisp breads and loved them with egg salad on top for supper! Thanks.
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Oh, yay, on the Wasa!
ReplyDeleteYes, love it!
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