It's Friday! YAY! Friday has always been my favorite day of the week. When I wake up on a Friday, I realize, wow, I made it through the week. I have accomplished a lot and now I am about to be rewarded with 48 hours of time for my family and myself.
As the day progresses, I secretly think about what I will be doing on the weekend. I am sure that I am not alone, but who cares. These are my thoughts and my words for now!!
I remember as a kid when the last bell of the school day on Friday rang, it was a total and complete relief. Whew! We are done. Hopefully there wasn't a mound of homework. I would be able to get out of my uniform (yeah, I was in a private school for a few years and we had to wear crisp white shirts and navy blue skirts that weren't too short-- fingertips had to touch the bottom of the skirt -- white knee socks and really ugly shoes that made my feet feel like elephant feet!). So the second I got to my bedroom, the uniform hit the carpet and on came the bell bottom jeans, ribbed knit shirt, earth shoes and thick, cushy socks. It meant the beginning of the weekend.
Of course, there were some Friday nights that my parents insisted that we attend West End Temple in Belle Harbor. Then I had to switch from the jeans to something a little dressier. At least until after temple. Then of course we had to mill around and I always ended up in the corner chatting with my cousin Roger. Back then it felt like he was such a little kid. Now, I feel younger than him! Sorry Rog!
But Friday always marked the beginning of something. I always spent Saturdays and Sundays at the Hartman Y with my friends, Susan and Laura and Lauren and Cindy. We were all members of the Hartman Y Players a local theater group. We learned about the creation of art, theatrical art. We learned how to sing, dance and act. We learned how to apply theatrical make up and wigs. We learned about stage lighting and creating costumes. My friend, Laura, was our pianist and she was GREAT at it.
We performed in "Fiddler on the Roof," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Little Mary Sunshine," "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown," "Guys and Dolls."
Our director, Jeffrey James, dedicated his life to the kids and this theater group. To this day, I really don't know how he did it. He gave us a huge love and respect for the Great White Way. And, he looked EXACTLY like Fred Astaire and he knew it and he danced like him too! He actually was an extra in one of Woody Allen's movies that was filmed in Far Rockaway.
So Friday back then meant that I had an entire weekend to spend with my friends, rehearsing and then performing our roles. Then we would end up at each other's houses for cast parties. Those were wild and fun. Never any drugs or alcohol, just pure fun. And that is how I met and got to know Joel. At these events. In fact, Joel was Tevya and I was Chava in Fiddler! So technically, he was my father?? Now how weird is that?
Anyway, way, way off the subject.
Today, Friday means that I can put on my black tank top and my flannel, plaid pants that tie at the waist with my sweat socks. Out come the contacts, off comes the make up, on go the glasses. I get to flop down on any available comfortable couch or bed and watch a movie or type away on this computer. It is my pleasure to unwind this way.
Of course, I am not a total shut in. I do get out with the kids and Joel. We go to the movies or shopping or sometimes I take the girls to the beach or pool. But mostly it is about have the choice to do nothing if I want.
So that is why Friday is my favorite day. It gives me the freedom to choose to do nothing!
2 comments:
Ok, JR -- so you and I have a bit different take on those days. Hmmm. Yes, it was fun. Yes, Jeff James did look a bit like Fred Astaire only a lot thinner and older. More like Fred Astaire after he was already dead a few years. And what was with those two girls that hung around him all the time? Nieces, were they? I was never quite convinced.
And as for the no drugs and alcohol thing, that's not exactly how I remember that going either. Maybe it was because I hung around with Sarina and everyone knows what a bad influence she was ;^) How about Danny Aguirre groping half the girls in the cast when he thought his wife wasn't looking?
About that Tevya thing, I'm still not over the fact that Joel played against Heidi instead of me and made me play against that Barry what's his name who couldn't even remember all his lines!
Well, you always had a rosier picture of those days than I did.
That was Barry Federman and he ended up playing Tevya after Joel decided to quit! But Jeffrey was a character, I will give you that. His nieces, well, they were quite the whores, but that wasn't Jeffrey's doing, that was their own. As for Danny, I never got close enough to him to find out about the gropping.
The drugs usually happened AFTER the cast parties, and, if you recall, I was usually the one that did the babysitting to make sure that no one walked out of the house into the street or anything stupid!
I know, I was no innocent either, but I don't remember any of the drugs happening DURING the parties!
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