When I was younger, I never had to worry about what my weekend plans were going to be. I made it a point to schedule my play-dates to end by 6:30 p.m. at the very latest, ensuring enough time to get acclimated for the night ahead.
Friday nights were for new episodes of Hannah Montana followed by Suite Life on Deck.
Saturday nights were a similar situation, only with iCarly followed by Victorious.
Weekends during my childhood were a constant for me. No matter what, I always knew that come 7 p.m. on Friday, my entire family would be seated in front of the TV, watching Disney Channel.
Honestly, I think my dad was more excited at times than I was. He was always home from work in time. No late nights. Just him, his girls and Hannah. Now, not so much. I see what your old priorities were dad.
He even cried at the iCarly finale. Respect. It takes a real man to cry at the end of a Nickelodeon show.
As I got older, the variable changed, but the weekends still remained a constant. No matter what, I always knew that come noon on Saturdays, my entire family would be seated at a table at Lange’s Little Store and Delicatessen.
Ever since I got to college, for the first time in my life, my weekends have been a toss up. No longer was there a time where my family was all together for two days straight. In fact, unless each of us texts what we are doing in our family group chat, I have no clue what my family is up to.
Granted, I am the one providing the most coverage with my day-to-day life. I send upwards of seven messages at a time and receive no response. Hello? Is anybody out there? I just wanted to share with you guys that I ate oatmeal for breakfast or that I was sweating in class. You know, the need to know information.
Sometimes my dad will send a selfie on a plane headed somewhere for business or on the couch with my dog, and my sister will send a text saying “Guys! It’s 40 degrees today!” thinking it was a real victory up in the arctic of Vermont. My mom sends various old home movies of my sister and me when we were younger dancing in our princess dresses and heels.
Empty nest syndrome is clearly hitting her harder.
All I know is that my parents are sitting in front of the TV and eating sandwiches from the Little Store. But they’re doing it without me.
Going off to college has been a huge transition for me, although, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. Sleep-away camp was a torturous time for me filled with bugs and crying myself to sleep listening to my parent’s wedding song. We aren’t going to delve deeper into that last part anymore than I have.
In part, I think it has to do with the fact that I don’t do well with change. My life is essentially a check-list of to-dos.
Up until college, my years were filled with soccer games, practices and tournaments. My last two years of high school were filled with both soccer and my first real job working as a counter girl at a local soup shop, and later a hostess at the shop’s restaurant. Whatever time I had on the side was spent babysitting, watching Netflix or doing whatever work I had - which was next to none as a Second Semester Senior.
The rigidity in my schedule left little time for spontaneous acts of change. And that was okay with me.
Along with finding comfort in familiarity, I also value my own space and find myself to be a very independent person. It’s hard to find alone time when you’re essentially at a “play-date” every day with hundreds of new faces, but this time I can’t schedule them to end by 6:30 p.m. on a Friday.
Unfortunately, that’s when many of them are just beginning. The social scene. The night on the town. The rager. None of the above involve watching Hannah Montana on the couch, by the way.
Now that my freshman year is coming to a close, I look back on the things I did to try to ease my transition and reflect on how much I have changed.
Club soccer was something I participated in during the fall season and that helped me keep up the type of schedule I was used to. I’ve always loved having a team and a different group of girls to surround myself with. It wasn’t something I was ready to give up. I go to the gym as often as I can as a stress reliever and as a way to get a good sweat - and a way to watch Food Network on the hanging TV. It has become such a huge part of my routine that I even feel gross after I don’t go. My marathon-running dad must be so proud.
I always go to Johnny’s on Thursdays to get a salad with grilled chicken (and a full box of chips on the side to counteract the healthy meal.) I also always go to Upper on Wednesday nights to get the best, worst Chinese food I’ve ever had. I leave a random day in the week for Chipotle - but we keep that as a wild card to live life on the edge.
Being part of the paper, and especially being an editor this semester has added a huge time commitment to my schedule. It’s kind of like my soup job. I now have something to help balance my other work. I enjoy it almost as much as I enjoyed ladling chicken and dumpling soup.
Despite these changes to my routine, my end goal remains the same as it did when I was a kid:
Get my work done in a timely manner and ensure enough time to get acclimated for the night ahead. Only now, that night consists of me in my bed watching The Office, not on the couch watching Disney Channel.
As my dear childhood friend Hannah Montana once said, “I know changing can be scary, but it's a part of growing up. It's how we find out who we are and who we're gonna be."
