Friends

I am being kicked out of my apartment this weekend.

Well, the truth is that I am really only being temporarily displaced. Alex has managed to gather a herd of friends to head up to the wilds of Great Barrington for 48 hours or so of a big slumber party at our apartment. Many of her old high school gang are reuniting, along with some others she has grown close to through the years.

No matter how much I like to think that my presence would be a welcome addition at this event, it would not.

I am one who has long labored under the misconception that the friends of my children are actually also secretly looking to socialize with me. I am wrong. While I believe my children love me dearly, my inability to understand my limited role relating to their generation, has certainly caused my children aggravation over the years.

It is a continuing struggle for me to realize that my appeal is not universal. There is a time and place for me and it is not all the time and not everyplace.

So, for this weekend, Jo and I will be bunking next door at the apartment of a neighbor who is out of town. I know my tendency will be to search for every possible excuse to find myself just across the landing, just for a minute. I will have forgotten my ski gloves. I will need some diet soda. It will be too hot, or too cold, or too dark or too light for me where I am staying. I will just want to say hello, or hello again. I will, I will, I won't.

Remember this mantra. There is a time and place for you and it is not all the time and not everyplace. There is a time and place for you and it is not all the time and not everyplace.

Lock the doors and shut the lights. I might not be able to help myself.