Sunday, May 23, 2010

chasing a good time

You can chase your kid, you can chase your youth,
but "you can't chase a good time."

This pearl was delivered by a wise fellow tired of driving my friend and me around from place to place one evening. Certain we could catch up with a good time, we just would not call it a night. Hours later, we conceded and dejectedly headed for home. We've repeated "you can't chase a good time," so many times over the past decade -- it perfectly sums up the movie that wasn't worth it, the unjustifiably large tab, the night that just will not come together.

I have never thought getting older meant the end of good times. I have had some of my best times as an adult, made better by the absence of regret and embarrassment. However, now it takes so much just to get out the door that the opportunity cost seldom seems worth it. Who wants to get a sitter, spend hard-earned money, shave your legs, face the certainty of being exhausted the next day, etc. when you can't even be guaranteed a good time? Can't there be "Good Times Insurance"? You know: get back your money, your time wasted and a voucher from the sitter when the night is a bust.

And because I really do think my kids, p.j.s and "Clifford the Big Red Dog" are a barrel of fun, my incentive to go out is already nil.

But, every once in a while: magic. There is no formula, and it seems to come around when I least suspect it. Indeed, there actually seems to be an inverse relationship between planning and pleasure. Just when I think I'm not going to go out again until the kids are in college -- it happens. A good time! The kind of good time that makes me remember how worthwhile it is to nurture my relationship with my husband and my friends. The kind of time that makes me remember how special it is to put on lip gloss and live it up.

Last night, I enjoyed the company of two people I love dearly. We had exceptional, local food and wonderful service at 715. We then high-tailed it down the street to The Jazzhaus, We had a great time listening to some awesome rock hits by Coversmith. The bassist of said group is the very same fellow who first coined, "you can't chase a good time."

It is just so nice to know, that while chasing doesn't work-- with continued effort and some fast walking -- it still happens from time to time. How often do you get out, how do you make it happen, and what is your idea of a good time?

5 comments:

  1. Hey Lisa! I wholeheartedly, mamariffically agree. Planning with kids is ridiculous. So often it seems that when I look forward to something, or have high expectations, they come crashing down around me in a wave of "responsibility to my children whose needs currently supercede my own." But it's not the kids' fault. It's "the chase's" fault. That doesn't mean we simply resign ourselves to 9 o'clock bedtimes indefinitely. For me, it means living in the moment instead of some precreated future dreamworld that most likely will never live up to the reality. If that sounds defeatist, I don't mean it to be. I absolutely think dreaming, desire and staying passionate is essential. For me, it just has to be held in balance.

    I'm so happy you had a nice time Saturday and am sad that I missed seeing you and sharing in the capture of one of those "good time" creatures! Would love to get together with you and the fam sometime soon!

    :) anj

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  2. Hey Lesa..
    It was great to see you and Terry the other night. I wish we could have had a bit more time to catch up. We'll have to get together and have dinner some evening in the near future. It was good to see ya singing I love Rock N Roll. Need to get you up on stage next time ;>)

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  3. It would be nice if instead of chasing fun, fun would chase us. Hard as we might try, we couldn't beat it away with a stick. We would run so fast, feet moving so furiously that the soles of our shoes melt, but fun overtakes us every time like a cheetah chasing a gazelle. Life doesn't work that way.
    Maybe fun is really just an attitude. Maybe it's there all the time but we don't recognize it. When I look back, I find that some of my best memories are little things. A fun night out with friends (see "chasing a good time"), cooking out on the grill, seeing a movie or just sitting in a lawn chair by potter lake reading a book (a particular summer favorite of mine). Fun is around you every day when you celebrate the little things.

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  4. When my friend Mary Beth and I hang out, we always say "Error on the side of pleasure". This term being coined when she was buying on overly expensive BUT beautiful diaper bag, for what we suspected to be the last baby.

    "Error on the side of pleasure" works for so many things!

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  5. This post was really one of my more frivolous and for fun type of musings but I have been surprised at how much I ended up taking away. I like the idea that I am actually being stalked by fun, I just need to live in the moment enough to recognize it. And "error on the side of pleasure"-that's f-ing fantastic. I have MAJOR error angst but "on the side of pleasure" feels pretty liberating.

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