Crowds

Sundays are down days here at my house – at least for me. I think for my 3 kids, too. I look at their lives, and wonder how they hold up – they’re in structured environments so much of the time, and have been for so long – since they were two, all of them. Daycare. Summer camps. School. After-school care. Before-school care.

I’m an introvert, which doesn’t mean I keep to myself all the time, as much as it means that I renew my energy by withdrawing. I used to like to go to (Quaker) Meeting on Sundays, but even that has me being outward directed too much. After working all week, and a Saturday spent running errands or getting household chores done or, frequently, working on school work, Sundays for me are days to putter around the house in my slippers, cooking something that takes all afternoon, watching a little bit of football or soccer or baseball, maybe fixing the door that’s been broken for the past 7 months.

The one place where this all got reversed for me was New York city. I loved the crowds there – they gave me energy. I haven’t been there in a long, long time, but I always found it an energizing, exciting place to be, laced by streets filled with beautiful people and a tangible life force that was there for all to take.

I’ve known people who got revitalized by going out, either to a meeting somewhere or to a bar or just to some place where they could interact with a crowd and get their energy back. They all disliked New York.

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