more doing, less planning, more fun

Here’s a typical night for me lately.  Dinner with Alexander while watching 30 to 45 minutes of TV.  It amazes me how much conversation we have while doing these two activities simultaneously, especially if it’s an old Law and Order episode.  We guess what might happen.  We discuss the moral implications of some of the stories.  We relate sometimes to the victim or the accused.  We wonder if the punishment is too harsh or not harsh enough.

I prepare dinner and Alexander typically cleans up.  After dinner I might read a bit, and usually by nine I’m in my room playing WWF, watching DVR’ed shows, and maybe catching up on phone calls.  Around 12:30,  I turn off the lights, turn on the AC, and go to sleep.

My son’s life, at 20 is far more exciting than mine, just as it should be.  Even his more ordinary nights are often tinged with surprise. Last night, for example, he meets up with some friends around 10:30.  It’s raining out, and about an hour later he’s home, water dripping off his shorts and T-shirt.  I think he’s in for the night and ask why.  “No, I’m just changing clothes.  We’re sitting on Peter’s roof and I’m cold in these clothes.  I need to change.”  I question why he’d be hanging out on someone’s roof in the rain and he replies, “Because we’re young.”  He leaves, and about an hour later he’s back with his friends hanging out here.

I remember how much fun the unplanned and unexpected were.  Creating an impromptu ridiculous-looking costume and dancing around the apartment to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

January 1979 in Chicago

Sitting around with friends at midnight discussing what we wanted to do that night.  Or deciding to just get high.

 

February 1979 with Tim (my husband, to my left) and
Hazel (to my right, and still my good friend)

Eric coming over at 1 in the morning and then going out to a bar —on a weeknight when I am working the next day. Deciding in late afternoon to hitchhike to New York City for the night, while a college student in Boston, just because it might be fun — then ending up sleeping on the floor of some boys’ dorm room at NYU — boys we don’t know and never see again. 

It’s good to have a plan for the important things in life, but too much spontaneity gets lost over time. 

Maybe I’ll call some friends at midnight tonight and see if they want to go out!  I hope I can find someone who's still up.