WELCOME TO BIFOCAL FRIDAYS

I recently started a new job in a formal business setting after 20 years of working in a very independent environment. I absolutely love my new gig, but it does require a pretty unwavering commitment to a solid 9-5 schedule every day, with a generous but very structured vacation policy. I miss some of the flexibility I had before, to take a day or an afternoon or a few hours off at the drop of a hat.

So imagine my delight a few months into the job when I learned that we keep “Summer Hours” for the months of June, July and August. That means Friday afternoons entirely off. I felt like a kid in a candy store as I considered the unexpected gift of this special time suddenly available to me.

It reminded me of one of my favorite childhood books, The Saturdays, by Elizabeth Enright, which I have read countless times. In 1940s New York City, the four fictional Melendy children lament that their weekly allowance of 50 cents each isn’t enough to do anything really good with. So they decide to pool their money, and one child will have it all each week in turn, to do something special for a Saturday adventure.

Ten year-old Randy gets to go first, because it was her idea. As she luxuriates in considering her options, she thinks she mustn’t waste a minute or a penny of it. “It was like a door opening into an enchanted country which nobody had ever seen before; all her own to do with as she liked.” This is how I felt about the idea of my Summer Hours. While mine wasn’t an issue of limited spending money, the idea of not wasting a single minute of it was paramount. So I made the decision to approach my Friday afternoons very intentionally, committed to making each one count in a unique and meaningful way, all summer long.

As the Melendy’s father said when he granted approval to their scheme, “See that you do something you really want; something you’ll always remember. Don’t waste your Saturdays on unimportant things.” I wouldn’t waste my precious Friday afternoons. I would do something wonderful (or at least notable) every week, and write about it here so I’d be accountable to the commitment and fully mindful of the adventure.

Of course not every Friday will pan out as some big amazing thing. Maybe one afternoon I will simply clean my house and revel in the fact that I have this lovely home with a new love who has given me a new lease on life in my 50s. Maybe one day I will simply weed the garden and think about life. But there’s plenty to be gotten from that as well.

“We lead a humdrum life when I think about it. It’s funny how it doesn’t seem humdrum,” said Randy Melendy over tea with an old family friend. Mrs. Oliphant replied, “That’s because you have ‘eyes the better to see with, my dear’ and ‘ears the better to hear with.’ Nobody who has them and uses them is likely to find life humdrum very often. Even when they have to use bifocal lenses, like me.”

Join me on my “Summer Hours: Bifocal Fridays” adventures. Maybe you’ll find something new to do with your special time, or just a new way of looking at things.

Friday #2: June 10, 2016

Today’s second installment of Bifocal Fridays was all about preparing to host some of Drew’s family for the weekend festivities surrounding his oldest daughter’s high school graduation.

Creating a Comfort Zone

Creating a Comfort Zone required a little bit of help from Xcel Energy, as the temperatures were rising into the 90s for the weekend. Since our 1932 house doesn’t have central air, we had to rely on strategically placed window units and the particular nostalgic magic that is a good oscillating fan.















For the guest accommodations, I managed to eradicate most of the evidence that these are, in fact, teenage boys’ rooms. However, the photo doesn’t show the prominent rappers poster in one room that prompted us to nickname it the Gangsta Suite.



A Trip to Costco

You might have to put on your most rose colored bifocals to find the fun in this particular part of my Summer Hours adventure -- and Drew would probably want me to point out that I was in fact slightly chappy because we had pushed off this errand until the last possible minute. His family was arriving imminently and we still needed to stock up on mega supplies for Sunday’s big graduation party as well as tonight’s dinner party for eleven.

But we managed in plenty of time – as he reminds me that we always do. And I took a degree of joy in the outing that I always find in a) shopping with Drew, who is always fun to do something with no matter what we’re doing; and b) recognizing and appreciating the bounty of food and drink that we have access to in our lives.

Cooking for Company

There is almost nothing I enjoy more, so I was happy to spend some of my Summer Hours preparing for a big family dinner party. Knowing it was going to be such steamy weather, I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen much, so I limited it just 10 minute of cook time for these pretty red lentils to make into a delicious cold red lentil salad side dish that would accompany a big leafy Greek salad, and grilled steak and shrimp on the barbie.


Dinner was lively and fun, we feasted and toasted Eleanor’s graduation, and then when it had cooled off a bit outside we retired to the back patio to enjoy the evening sky.

  
And then, like any good Russian and Polish family, they brought out the good stuff. End of story.


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2 comments:

  1. P. J. GrathJune 13, 2016 at 11:07 AM

    Whatever you and Drew cook up, a good time is guaranteed. And yes, even a shopping trip can be fun. David and I always enjoy our annual drive down to the area landfill.

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  2. DeborahJune 14, 2016 at 5:10 AM

    Maiya,I know several people who enjoy Costco shopping very much so I'm sure that, as you said, doing anything with Drew - such as your shopping trip to Costco - was fun. Enjoy the Friday summer afternoons and we'll enjoy them vicariously! I know you had a wonderful weekend.

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