Friday, November 25, 2011

Hanging Out in the 'Hood



I saved a lot of money today.  I didn't do any shopping.  Even though today was Black Friday, I didn't walk into one store or visit any websites to shop or buy anything.  I just wasn't up for being sucking into the great vortex of shopping madness that now occurs on the day after Thanksgiving.  To me it's just a marketing ploy.  There may be 42-inch flat screen televisions that cost $199 but there's probably only four of them in the store and standing in line or camping out in a tent to take advantage of that price just isn't worth it.  I will do my bit for the economy.  It just didn't happen today.

Instead, I raked leaves with my son.  Besides working off the extra Thanksgiving calories I consumed yesterday, I got to spend time with my son and as he gets older those moments are to be grabbed and cherished.  It was a beautiful day and raking and cleaning the yard turned into a simple moment of talking about nothing at first but then more about life and how things are going for him in his senior year at Fordham.  He also had met up earlier in the day with a friend's son who is a junior in high school who wanted to chat with him about what college is like and how he should navigate the process of applying.  I told him that it was very nice of him to talk to this friend's son and he said he wanted to do it and enjoyed it.  But he was also surprised by how the conversation made him feel.




"It was weird in a way," he said.  "I've known this guy since he was in elementary school and now he's talking to me about applying to college and at the same time my friends and I are now looking for jobs for after graduation.  I don't know... I feel kindof, I don't know...old."  I was laughing hysterically.  "Oh yeah," I said.  "At the ripe old age of 21, you are really pushing it.  You have no idea what old feels like."

And then my son got to the crux of why today was so special.  "I don't want it to go so fast,"  he said.  "I think I need life to slow down a little bit."

Amen to that.

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