Friday Night Ten Years Ago

It's almost midnight and everyone in my house is asleep but me. Both children are collapsed on couches and I don't feel like carrying them to their room. Am I a horrible mother if I just leave them there all night?

Ten years ago I wouldn't have even thought about going to bed before midnight on a Friday. Instead I'd be on my way to downtown Chicago, ready to dance till 5 in the morning. I was usually one of the last people to walk out of a club. I'd dance till the staff turned the lights on and kicked me out.

But now, ten years later, here's how I spent my Friday night: I ate Thai food with my family and a good friend came over and we chatted about movies, the LAPD, music and lots of other random things. There was no getting our fly outfits together to go to a club. No getting sweaty on a dance floor either.

Not that I think I'm missing anything. Clubs here take the "guest list" waay too seriously and close at a measley 2 AM. I guess the thinking is that by then, you should have obtained an invite to some "exclusive" after-party, or to a one-on-one tete-a-tete, and so there is no need to dance till 5 AM.

And what would I be doing there at a club nowadays anyway? I'd probably be looking at all the "ho clothes" being worn by both women and men and bemoaning how these are not clothes meant for dancing.

I am too... old. Is that the word? Old? Too grown up? Too... something for all that drama.

Plus, I should be asleep since I have to be in Santa Monica at 6 AM to run my nine miles.

What about you? How did you spend your Friday nights ten years ago? Do you miss what you used to do?

Comments

David Sullivan said…
This says it all!

http://sullsblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-former-life.html
Jameil said…
10 yrs ago i was 16 so i was likely in the band, going to games as the drum major, then ending the night at chili's before being home by 11. 5 years ago? now THAT was fun! undergrads doin it up! i was the club closer, too! lol
Anonymous said…
You aren't a bad mother for leaving them sleeping.

Let's see, 10 years ago. I had a four year old and a one year old. I suspect I wasn't getting nearly enogh sleep.
Jen said…
Ten years ago, my ds was 5, so I spent them the way you do now.

These days, we might all watch an action movie together as a family. Or the Daily Show/Colbert Report most likely and then all sit around reading books. We're real party animals. ;-)
Liz Dwyer said…
David,
So true. In ten years I'll be reminiscing about giving piggy back rides and them begging to hear another bedtime story.

Jameil,
Aww, high school memories! You were drum major? Did you get to wear the cool outfit and carry the baton?

Citizen,
No, not a bad mother, especially since they came and got in my bed at 4 AM anyway. Kids grow up too quickly, don't they?

Jen,
Partying so hard that the cops know your house, right! :) I've been thinking about how I want to turn Friday nights in to game/movie/family hang out night -- and I want to do it before they're too old to resent being kept in the house on a Friday night.
Ian Lidster said…
Yes, I remember longing for the phone to ring on weekends, hoping that meant going somewhere for the evening. Now I dread it.
I hope your run went brilliantly, dear friend and thank you for the nice compliment on Facebook.
Unknown said…
Ten years ago, I was 14, so I spent most of my nights watching Nick at Night believe it or not. Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, I Love Lucy and Mary Tyler Moore made my day that much better. That was of course, in between homework. Ha!

And leaving them on the couch - I suspect that when I do have children, I will be more than likely doing this and having the same thoughts you just did.
ten years ago I had just moved to L.A. I don't miss those club days at all. Nobody dancing, just profiling. ha
Nerd Girl said…
10 years ago I was planning my wedding.

I wasn't going out on Friday nights, unless you count late night jaunts to the 24 hour grocery store. Hey, there's not that much to do in Pine Bluff, AR besides club - or grocery shop.

I much prefer my 2008 Friday nights than those I had in 1998. I do miss the sleep though :)
Unknown said…
Well, Liz, hmm, it would be like 12 years ago for me! ;0(

I was probably on Belmont at the Melrose after Berlins, or the Exit or that place across from Wrigley listening to Sea n Cake or looking for John Cusak to come play pool...ooh or at the Empty Bottle...dang, now Im missing young single life!
West said…
Enh. I'm not married now and wasn't then. For about half of the year, I was single so I spent most of that time "spreading the love." No clubbing. My clubbing days had ended years before. Too many guns, not enough bu ...errr... dancing.
Anonymous said…
Los Angelista,
10 years ago. I was a father with several young children. I was still “married” then, but she was gone a lot, so it was more like single-parenting. That meant Friday nights where the usual; making dinner after work, cleaning up, bathing the kids and spending some time playing with them until I got them in bed so I could pass out from exhaustion. An exciting life, fer sur!
No complaining, really. I love my kids so much.
Daniel
Jameil said…
semi-cool outfit i suppose. no baton. those are majorettes.
Anonymous said…
10 years ago, I was 16, in my community theatre prime, acting as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I didn't start hitting the clubs till college.

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