Livin’ in the moment (and the past)
Weekends are precious and they are all too short, especially if you are down to your last few days of paid vacation time for the year. It’s Friday and I untangled many webs today and just about when I was getting ready to leave, Cube Nayber came up with the kind of conundrum that doesn’t belong at the end of a Friday afternoon. I gave it some perfunctory consideration and then I said something like, “Let’s untangle this on Monday morning.” And then I skedaddled.
Minced downtown to meet the GG at the Oscar Tango. Minced? Yes, minced. As I have said, we have nowhere near the piles of snow that others do but the skiff of snow we did get has only intermittently disappeared. About half of the local homeowners have shoveled and about half of those who have shoveled have put salt down. I walked downtown in my red Keens tonight. No YakTrax. It was okay but I was wary, especially on the downward trip, which is *mostly* downhill.
Back home and took a shower even though I was far from needing one. It just felt good.
Facebook can be so weird sometimes. A young woman posted on my class’s facebook page tonight asking if anyone remembered her mother. I didn’t respond but I do remember her. I think most of us do. Sigh. A very awkward young woman, unmercifully teased by others, if I remember correctly, yet always smiling, as one classmate noted. Alas, yes, I do remember correctly. I occasionally participated, acting friendly but not really feeling that way. Teasing. A mean girl. Boy oh boy, do I regret that. Why do we do stuff like that to other kids? I mean, I was hardly Miss Popularity myself. I struggled too. I think we do that stuff because it makes us feel somehow higher in the pecking order.
The major difference between me and my classmate was that I was born to a “prominent” family in town and I had parents who allowed me to at least try to *look* like I was one of the in-crowd. As humble as our lifestyle was back in that shabby old bungalow, they always helped me buy the latest fashions, etc., even if they didn’t necessarily like them. If I am remembering accurately, this woman’s parents were not together and the mother may have had some challenges. I seem to have known that then and understood what a hard life my classmate probably had. I’m sorry. It looks like her daughter has had a much better life, which makes me think her mother’s life probably improved greatly after high school. I’ve occasionally wondered throughout the years and, if that’s the case, I’m glad and I am ashamed of myself for ever doing anything to hurt her.
Friday night is one of my favorite moments of weekends here on The Planet. A walk downtown for a couple of cocktails and dinner and then home by 8:00 or so and hanging out in the Landfill Back Room. May it last forever.
November 22nd, 2014 at 8:33 am
D’accord. (toast)
November 22nd, 2014 at 11:39 pm
Sounds more fun than my Friday night! (home and in bed by 8) Is the mom still alive? I would want to know what she ended up doing; I’m a curious type. 🙂