Eileen Goudge

It was fun

I am a morning person, no doubt about it. I arise around 4 a.m. most days (whether I want to or not!) and by 4:20, after squeezing my orange juice and making myself a cup of tea, I’m at my desk. I love working in absolute quiet, with the phone guaranteed not to ring, when my brain is refreshed and before it gets cluttered with daily minutiae. Luckily, this parses with my husband’s schedule – he’s out the door by 4. The only downside is that, around the time everyone else is sitting down to dinner, we’re in bed. This tends to affect our social life, making dinner invitations problematic. How to politely tell a friend who is kind enough to ask you to dinner that it’s 4:00 p.m. or nothing? When you tell someone you eat early, they think you mean 6 or 6:30. Being invited to a party poses an even bigger dilemma. Most parties don’t get started until 8 or 9. Which, in my world, is more like midnight – at which point, most nights, I’m fast asleep.

The other night I broke my rule and went to my friend Jon’s party. It was Saturday and my husband was

out of town, so I thought it’d be nice to get out, that I could use the company. Also, it was cocktail hour and still daylight, so I could fool myself into thinking it wasn’t my bedtime. So I excavated a dress from the back of my closet, put on some heels, and headed out. And guess what? It was fun. I saw some old friends and met some new people. I communed with Maimie (Jon’s adorable Westie) and fondly recalled when my own Westie, Heidi (since gone to the great kennel in the sky) was my faithful companion. I celebrated with Jon his new, post-divorce life, in his sunny apartment that he decorated (beautifully) himself. And then, after an hour and a half, I took my leave. I strolled home, marveling at how the city comes alive at night, the restaurants overflowing onto the sidewalks, the packs of young people in party mode, the older folks all dressed up on their way to Lincoln Center. I smiled to myself, happy to have a glimpse of how the rest of the world lives, but ready for bed.

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