I finally had the day off today from work and was anxious to see what the rest of the world does when not in an office building all day. Not sure if it’s just a New York City thing, but I am always amazed at the large amount of people, from all ages and walks of life, who seems to have absolutely nothing to do but walk around, shop and eat at restaurants. Who are these people and how did they come into this life of leisure?
I’m not talking about students, the ill, homeless or retirees. I’m talking about women and men in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, dressed down as if they’re going for coffee with a friend, to the movies, a leisurely walk in Central Park, just strolling around with not a care in the world. True, these people could also be on their day off or taking a lunch break, but there were so many of them – and most of them looked like what they were doing was not a novelty – it was their life style. This is unlike me who walks around with perma-smile any time I have a day off from work. I usually pack in so many things that I end up over scheduling myself until a day off seems just as action packed as being at work.
This afternoon, I was happy to get a visit from my SWF (Scottish Work Friend), who was also off from work today. She brought her adorable 7 month old baby, Freya, in to the city. It’s a rare day when both of us get to be off at the same time, even rarer for me to snag some time with my favorite American born Scottish baby – so my SWF kindly made the trip into the city to hang with me and The Husband. Who knew we’d end up getting a first hand view of the city leisure crowd by going to lunch?
After getting rebuffed by JG Mellon, the NY old school burger establishment, for having the nerve to go in there with a stroller, we opted for Go Burger. Unbeknownst to us, Go Burger is the week day mommy mecca of the Upper East Side. We were immediately sat (strollers welcomed) next to a table of five, mid-20 something year old moms and their toddlers. A few minutes later, another pair of moms came with their kids. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by baby carriages, toddlers and conversations about nap times and music class. The Husband, who thought he was just joining us to eat a burger, immediately consoled himself from this Mommy Madness by ordering the Duck Fat Fries (see photo of these tasty slices of heaven). We also decided that it would be insane not to order a Twinkie milkshake as the SWF had never had a twinkie in her life (can you believe??).
Anyhow, I couldn’t help wonder about these mommies, who were definitely past the point of being off work for maternity leaves. Their kids were too old for that to be a possibility. Perhaps they worked part time, or just happened to coincidentally be taking the same day off as all of their mommy friends and had planned this lunch weeks in advance. But my SWF and I decided that this must be a mommy meet up group of some sort. It was fascinating and scary to watch them all. Toddlers screaming out for no reason, food flying and them all just continuing to chat with each other through every possible disruption as if they didn’t even hear or notice anything out of the ordinary. I wondered what these women did for a living, if they worked, what their husbands did and if not, how the financials worked amongst these ladies that lunch. Does the husband hand them cash every day to go for these little lunch outings? Do they share a bank account and credit card? Or do the women earn enough on their own to pay for it all themselves? I realize these are very nosey thoughts to have and definitely come from a place of complete jealousy that there is an entire sub culture of Ladies of Leisure That Lunch on weekdays – all without me in it.
Some day I will join this sub culture. Whether as an independently or dependently wealthy lady of leisure – it wouldn’t bother me either way. I want to wake up whenever I want with absolutely nothing to do but the following: work out for 2 hours, get coffee, meet up with friends for lunch, read a great book, take an even greater nap, have a personal chef who can cook wonderfully healthy and tasty dinner meals for me and The Husband, curl up with our pretend dog who doesn’t poop or need to be walked in rain or snow storms and watch some great TV. Is this possible during this lifetime? Apparently in New York City there are hundreds of people walking outside our apartment every day who seem to have some sort of arrangement like this. Except for the dog that doesn’t poop part. Anyhow – if anyone knows an easy and quick way to achieve this, I’m all ears.
Signing off now. My Lady of Leisure status is limited these days, so it’s best to go enjoy it while I can. Enjoy your weekends!
-Stacey B
Anonymous says
ha ha! You are FUNNY S. I just love your writing. I totally get the “what do these people do for a living?” question. Tons of time to dilly dally and just seemingly no worries at all. You work so hard and that my friend is the key to your success. You manage to FIND the time to maintain this excellent blog. How DO you do it?;) Anyway, I was taught hard work always pays off so give it a few more years. Hope you find the perfect pooch!
If anyone's reading this, I must add that Stacey is an incredible email-er. I owe you one S! Thanks for getting back to me. x
Anonymous says
I love that I've been coming to your blog and finding you writing several times these past few weeks. You are such a great writer and everything you write about brings a smile to my face! Thanks for keeping up this great blog even when the Bachelor seasons are over! If you ever write a book I will definitely be buying it!
Anonymous says
Okay, I have to admit, I literally LOLed at this post! And I have an explanation for you: the group of mamas you saw are SAHMs. This is what we do – meet up at random places and eat lunch together bc the craziness does get to us – we just try really hard to ignore it and it helps when we are together…lol, loved your interpretation of the whole thing though. Do we have a lot of money? No – but sometimes we exchange coffee money for playdate money so taht we can get together w/ our friends. And, when we're not in the burger joint at lunch – trust we are not having fun w/o you working gals! We love being at home w/ our kids, but we are working our butts off too. Getting together for lunch, et. al. just helps us survive, ya know?! And I know it sounds crazy that we can ignore the crazy kids, but it is a skill every mom must learn to do, no joke, or we will go insane. And just in case you are wondering, yes – the grass is always greener on the other side. We often wish we were at work too, but we also love being with our kids as crazy as they can drive us at times. Those three little words and the snuggles really do make it all worth it, and there's nothing better than watching them grow, which we couldn't do if we didn't sacrifice financially to stay home with them.
Oh and re sacrificing financially: I know it looks like there are moms that go out daily like that, but think about it: a burger is cheaper than a new pair of jeans, especially when you can share it w/ your kid who won't eat much. Not to mention, we SAHMs aren't shopping for new bus/cas clothes every season – we are wearing out our college sweatshirts and spending the extra dough on the kids.
Okay then…that was a longer 'comment' than I planned, but there you go…mom weekday 'lunchers' explained. : ) Keep up the good work – love the blog!
Anonymous says
p.s.
There is also a growing culture of WAHMs (work at home moms)…and they don't have to splurge on bus/cas clothes either, bc they can work in their p.j.s. They were likely part of the crowd too.