A Free Weekend - Redefined!

Remember when we were in our teens and we couldn't wait until we were older.  We couldn't wait until we could do whatever we wanted.  How blind to the real world were we? What we didn't realize is when we were younger, we had the most freedom that we ever would have.  Yes, before we could drive, we were a little more restricted, but still free.  School took up such a fraction of the day and for the most part come 3:00 we were free.  The part time, after school and weekend job that we had was mostly for fun money.  Oh, those were the days. 

My boyfriend has a mistress, let me introduce you to her. (Stick with my, I promise this will all come full circle)...  She is a very needy mistress and during the summer she can take up almost all of his time.  She requires swinging a bat and playing with balls and there are usually a lot of people involved.  Now, now, get your mind out of the gutter.  My boyfriend is a wonderful man who is anything but unfaithful... his mistress is softball.  When we first started dating, I will admit I was warned.  I was asked more times than I can count "You know how much softball he plays, right?".  I will also admit, I didn't believe their warnings when they told me he played pretty much from snow melt to snow fall.  That was not an exaggeration!!  Softball season starts around the end of April and goes through September and then fall ball starts for a few weeks. 

I can almost guess what you're thinking, come on, it can't be that bad. And for the average person it isn't.  For the average person who is only on a few teams, this wouldn't be that bad.  My boyfriend, however, isn't the average person.  He's on about five teams!

1- Co-ed slow pitch (plays every Friday)

2- Men's slow pitch (plays Mondays & Wednesdays)

3- Men's traveling slow pitch

4 & 5- Men's  fast pitch (Plays Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday.  He's on two teams). 

Our summers are full of softball games and tournaments.  It's a lot of fun! I have had the chance to met some amazing people and develop great friendships.  The only down fall is we have very full schedule during that time.  So, last night when I was getting ready for bed, it dawned on me, this is the first weekend since April that we don't have softball on the books! Suddenly I felt like I had all the time in the world.  It also helps that because I have a government job, I also have Monday off.... On the freedom!!

Now, comes the reason for the way I opened this blog ... Here I am, faced with a weekend that is essentially a free weekend.  The only thing we have scheduled is a birthday party for my boyfriend's younger cousin.  Suddenly I start filling the weekend up.. but not with fun things.. with this stupid adult chores and responsibilities that have to get done... Cleaning the house, errands, grocery shopping.  Please tell me that I'm not the only one that hates grocery shopping ... oh! and laundry! This is not the freedom of adulthood that I had envisioned!  I had so looked forward to growing up and doing whatever I wanted... Now, I am an adult and I still don't have the freedom to do whatever I wanted. What were we all thinking!?

I have now decided that I am going to make sure that I have a fun weekend.  Yes, the adult stuff has to happen, there's no way around it.  But, it looks like Saturday is becoming a movie marathon day.  Time to get caught up on all the movies I have wanted to see but haven't yet ... or even just binge watching my favorite shows on Netflix... and ordering pizza.  Getting a marathon of my favorite shows may get vetoed by the boyfriend.. I'm not sure a marathon of Gilmore Girls is what he would call a relaxing day! Saturday is a no adult responsibility day!!  It's been a long time since the boy and I have been able to have a day when we get to spend time together just doing nothing.  Sometimes it's the simple things in life that are the most enjoyable!

I'm not really sure that was a earth shattering point to this blog and I think it's one that's fairly simple.  Life goes by so fast... how many times have to written down the date and go, gosh I can believe its already *insert month*, where has this year gone?" ... I have a co-worker that's response to that was always, "I know, it's almost Christmas".  The first time I heard her say that it was only late spring and It thought she was crazy.  I remember saying some form of, Christmas is still months away.  And then came the day in late fall when I said, gosh I can't believe it's almost Christmas.  My co-worker promptly responded with, I've been telling you this for months!  Life goes by so fast and in a world where what we have is never enough.  We're always chasing the next best thing.  I think we, especially me, need to slow down, enjoy what we've got, and spend the quality time with our loved ones.  We all need a few more lazy weekends!