Grown Up TIme
This weekend I decided to play with kids my own age. I mean, don't get me wrong...I love the kids in my classes and many times I find our conversations fascinating. Well maybe they're not exactly "our" conversations, because conversations take two people actually speaking to each other. As someone close to me once described it, "First you talk. Then I talk. But when I talk that means you STOP talking. That's called a conversation." So I guess it's more like I find THEIR conversations fascinating. And if that makes me some kind of weird lurker, which it sort of does, too bad.
At college, I have to listen to what is going on around me, because one time I zoned out walking to my car and wondering if I should stop at Publix to get a roasted chicken. Did I have anything at home I could throw together for M and I? M really loves macaroni salad, maybe I'll get that and a chicken. Yes. And while I was considering the lemon pepper or the basic bbq, I was sideswiped by a kid on a skateboard. He came from nowhere! I did not hear him approaching. He knocked hard into my right arm and my purse when flying. I turned to him, the poor kid, about to reassure him that it's okay, it was an accident, don't beat yourself up and he looked at me and said, "Sorry but you were walking on the right! You're supposed to walk on the left." and glared at me much the way I expect the people looked at that guy who drove through the Blockbuster store window a few years ago...like DUDE! What the F is wrong with you?
Is this a new college rule? Did I miss this in orientation? So then, I hear myself apologizing to HIM! And he scoots away and I am picking up the spilled contents of my purse, hoping he didn't see my bottle of BEANO, and thinking I can't do this. I don't belong here. And I reached out to my children for sympathy, empathy, proof that there are young people in the world that actually love me. I sent them the following text:
Kids, mother was hit by a skateboard at school today. I am okay, though, just wanted you to know.
And they did reply within seconds, with the following message:😂 😂😂😂😂
So much for that.
So, this weekend with the girls was just what I needed. Admittedly, it started out rough because I valeted my car, and checked in at the front desk and got into my room anxious to look at the room service menu and found that somewhere between the desk and my room, I had lost my reading glasses. But don't worry, they have them in the little sundry shop downstairs. Of course, unlike the Stein Mart version that I buy with the plastic rhinestones, these were 90 dollars, but they come with a cleaning cloth so...totally worth it. I've been keeping a closer tab on these glasses than I did on my three year old when we went to Disney World.
Once I got that all settled, it was great. We met in the lobby and headed to the hotel restaurant. At a table by the water we ate and we drank. We had dessert! The next morning we sat by the pool and when the server came up to us and said, "Just wanted to let you ladies know, we are expecting a crowd of big drinkers. You know, it's going to get loud." as if to say you gals may want to play cards in your room for awhile til the party dies down—we didn't even care. We sat at the pool under an umbrella. We talked about everything under the sun, literally because someone had dropped a coverup right by our chair and we were trying to figure out who it belonged to. We laughed and commiserated and had a ball.
A while back someone asked me the advice I had for women and relationships. I had to think about it. Where to start? Finally it came to me—don't give up your girlfriends. I know new relationships can be intoxicating. Haven't we all given up a dinner in with the girls, for a night out with that new hot guy? Sure. But don't make a habit of it. Your relationship with your partner is a priority of course. But don't let yourself drift away. It is these women who are going to be there for you, when the uber driver calls you "sir" after you get the Robyn Wright haircut you have been obsessing over. Unlike men, when you say, "I just can't seem to lose these five pounds around my middle," your girlfriend won't answer glibly, "Have you tried not eating?" More importantly when you think you can't go on, when there is no way you are going to be able to get up in the morning and put one foot in front of the other, they will arrive at your house, help you get dressed and show you that you absolutely can.
Also, let's say, you get hit by a douchebag on a skateboard, and you need somebody to tell, someone who will understand your pain. You can turn to them. I promise you, they will listen, and trust me, once the tears stop streaming and they get done laughing, they will ask you if you are okay and really want to know that you are.
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