What a Difference a Weekend Makes

A few weekends ago, my fiancé commented on two people lying in the grass—no blanket or picnic—just enjoying the sun in a park. “We aren’t really grass-lying kind of people are we?”

“Nope.” I replied. “Too much to do!”

I think about weekends a lot, not just because I get very excited about them, but also because I’m a little too interested in the ways that other people spend their time off.

Half the world works weekends while everyone else (myself included) is gallivanting about, free as a freakin’ lark. And it wasn’t so long ago that I was one of those weekend workers, dreaming of the moment I got to kick off my shoes after a long Sunday of pouring coffee for (and hopefully not on) my customers.

I worked as a waitress through grad school, and as such, I often worked the hardest on the weekends. My grad school assignments felt comparably easy to schlepping five plates of hot breakfast on my arm at 7:30 AM. I still have dreams that I’ve gone back to waiting tables on the weekends; that experience serves as a good reminder that not everyone gets these days to do with as they please.

While I am lucky enough to enjoy the blessed reprieve of the Saturday/Sunday combo (two days in a row back to back when I get to do whatever I want?!?), I try to be mindful of the way I spend it.

It’s easy to go to one extreme or the other: all chores all the time, in a mad effort to catch up on all the personal and domestic items you’ve neglected during the week; or to have too much fun and wake up Monday morning hating yourself for not having the good sense to do some laundry and get a good night’s rest.

The thing I am most fascinated by, though, are weekend traditions.

When I was growing up, my dad always made pancakes on Saturday morning, and I always had to do my chores before I was allowed to do anything else. But as an adult I crave a tradition to call my own!

I know someone whose Sunday morning always includes watching a DVR recording of the latest Saturday Night Live episode (I love this!). My neighbor invariably spends his whole Saturday biking with his partner in a new place or on a new path. They leave in the morning and don’t return until dusk. I have a friend who goes to the same Farmer’s Market every Sunday to eat the same fish tacos. (Incidentally, she is very good at lying in the grass.)

How do you like to spend your days off? Do you even get days off? Do you have a weekend tradition?

— Lindsey

Photo by Flickr user smittenkittenoriginals