It's Saturday Night

 

When I was anywhere from 18 years old to 35+/-, I remember how important Saturday night was to me both as a single adult as well as a married adult..  It was a time to get together with friends, eat, and consume alcohol...  I was not so much into dancing or going to clubs, so the scene we created was in someone's home.

As children came along, there were still get together where we ate and drank alcohol but they were perhaps not as rowdy as they were when we were without children.

Friday nights were reserved for all male or all female nights where the males would play poker or end up at a local bar where we would "eyeball" all the females but remain with our pals.

Sundays were always reserved FOR NOTHING SPECIAL...  just kicking back and pretty much spending the day doing nothing...  there may be a football game to watch if it was the season but most of the time, it was just a do-nothing day...  Although, as we got older there was talk of going to church and being seen by the right people...

Somewhere around the age of 35 or maybe 40, life began to change.  For me, I quit smoking, quit drinking about 98% of the time, began exercising on a regular basis, cut out eating red meat, focusing instead on fish, chicken, beans, vegetables, and fruits.  It was also a time when I actually attended church rather than just thinking about it..

When I was living with my parents K-12, it was a requirement that we attend church services every Sunday which included Sunday School.  After the church service, our parents would always take us for ice cream regardless of the outside temperature....  I never thought of it as some sort of bribe.

So, when I started attending church again, none of the sermons provided me with any new information as I had already heard them all...  in fact, many people in our Sunday School class were amazed that I knew all the stories in the Bible so well..

At 60, my life changed again with the discovery of cancer and experiencing a heart attack...  What little wine I may have drank at Christmas and other holidays was forbidden by the Oncologist...  and, my activity level suddenly reduced as I realized that there were many things that I could no longer do at least with the speed I was doing them before.

BUT, what's all this got to do with Saturday nights?

My Saturday nights changed as well.  Seldom did my wife and I get together with friends for dinner and a game of cards...  I don't know if we did not think about it or if we were too tired to think about it...  or too lazy to get cleaned up for company.

At 74, our Saturday nights are like sundays and pretty much every other day of the week as both pretty much do very little other than the general housekeeping and maintenance that has to be done.

There is no talk of getting together with any of our friends for dinner and conversation...  this inaction is further compounded by the fact that some of the spouses of our friends are deceased.

COVID hit our area a couple of years ago 2019/2020 and we have been reluctant to be out in public unless we absolutely have to.  While most of the masks mandates have been lifted, there are still places where wearing masks are required.

So...  here I am...  sitting in my living room on a Saturday without the slightest desire to do anything than what I am currently doing which is writing and posting on my blogs.

I don't think about getting together with friends...  I don't think about getting together with family - however, most of my family lives in other states.

We used to have cable and of all the 150+ channels there was really nothing we wanted to watch...  We stopped cable and just acquired a WIFI provider and subscribed to HULU, Netflix, and Amazon Prime and believe it or not, but there is really nothing on those stations that I want to watch either other than the NEWS.

SATURDAY NIGHT IS A BIG BUST FOR ME...