Loneliest night of the week

For the past month or so - maybe due to the longer days - an older friend has been feeling like everyone else is out & doing fun things on Saturday nights.  

Throughout the evening, she asks, "What's happening in Bryn Athyn?" - her hometown.  She's in shocked disbelief when I typically respond, "Nothing."  

On the drive back to her senior residence, she asks again.  And usually again.  John walks her from the front door up to her apartment - inevitably, as they head down the long empty corridors, she expresses woe that EVERYONE else is out having a good time, just as she is heading up to her empty apartment.  John is well versed in explaining that actually the parking lot is filled with cars - that everyone else is in their apartments, most are probably ready for or already in bed by 9:00 p.m., a possibility that always shocks her.  

It doesn't matter that the fabulous Saturday night parties she remembers from her earlier days haven't been the norm in Bryn Athyn for over a generation, that few people in this day & age get dressed up & head out.  It was HER norm, she still expects fun & friends on a Saturday night.  Dinner with John et moi, the highlight an ice cream sundae, doesn't cut it.

 

Is it the turn of the season, the fact that her O Best Beloved died around this time, or just longing for the old norm she loved so well?  We do our best to make Saturday nights as bearable as possible.  Some nights, we do a pretty good job.  Others...