You Are Only As Good As Your Saturday Night

I had a hard week at work. We’ve all had one.

Monday begins a new week and a fresh start. On Friday, I was not feeling it. Thankfully, a few people happened to be in my path who reminded me that life is long and there are many things ahead for me. And one of those things was this weekend.

Sure, I had some work and family obligations during the day. Work an event, attend a baptism, hang time with the kiddos. But Saturday night I had a date and as blah as I was feeling, I knew I needed a night out.

I would like to interject here with the reminder to know one’s self. As warm and fuzzy, as confident and cool as I put out into the world, I get sad more than I care to mention. I push myself to the point of exhaustion. I beat myself up privately and doubt myself often. Luckily, I also have learned how to push through. I know to cherish the highs and the lows. Sometimes you just gotta “namaste” and move on.

And to be fair, I have not been feeling well. I have that “on-coming winter, it’s a new temperature every day” cold that we all get as this time of year in the North East. But I digress.

Last night was not about bar hopping, especially when with a man who doesn’t drink much at all. Instead we had a date to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show on the big screen at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater. So we rallied. I put on a black wig and black lipstick. I decided I was “Dead Dorothy Parker”. My husband was “too lazy to dress up to walk around Peekskill and ‘honestly Vic, why are you all dressed up?”. Saturday night could have been all about the couch but instead it was about something more.

We got to the theater and instantly knew we’d made the right move. We got cider donuts and bottles of water. (Let’s pause to admire the fact that the concession stand had cider donuts.) We were given little bags of goodies to throw and play with during the show. The crowd was packed with people in various costumes related to the movie and just fun. A Popeye pushed his way down an aisle. A zombie slid in late from The Zombie Bar Crawl happening down the street. A Pikachu lead the film “virgins” in a crash course before the movie started. And somewhere between doing “The Time Warp” again and admiring how simply gorgeous Susan Sarandon was and still is, all was right in the world again.

We left smiling and energized, saying hello to a few friends we saw there.

“Hey you”, my date said, as he took my hand, “Let’s just keep going.”

So we hit the Cider House, because Peekskill has one. (And yes, I am noticing a cider theme to the evening now). And then we were hungry, so we ventured out to hit up Iron Vine, my favorite restaurant. But then I remembered something. It was the night of the Halloween Ball. So we headed to the new Dramatic Hall, where a friend of ours “Noodle” was DJ-ing and more friends were on the dance floor.

We did that thing where you do a lap before your commit. Ice cream was purchased on the balcony. We watched people on the floor below literally form a “Love Chain” while they danced to the song of the same name. Then Noodle played “Thriller” and you know it was all over. The dance floor was flooded and we rocked out with our zombie arms among the masses. He followed it with Pharrell’s “Happy”. I love to dance. I am not the best dancer but there is something kind of amazing in the freedom you feel when you are in a community of people, lost in the music and being truly there, in that moment, happy as hell.

Five or six songs later, we were sweating like bandits, my wig kept falling off and now my black lipstick was all over my husband’s lips. (Are you shocked, really?) We hugged the DJ. (Life lesson. Always thank the DJ.)

We walked through town, back to our car. It was oddly warm again and another DJ was playing on the streets where more people continued to dance. The city was alive and we were there and it was glorious.

So let me leave you with this. Life is not easy. It can be riddled with uncertainty. You can feel beaten down and uninspired. But you have to make it what it is. You have to seek that adventure. You have to re-inspire yourself or go re-watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In it they sing the line, “Don’t Dream It. Be It”, and last night we were “it”.

You are only as good as your Saturday Night. So go make that night and the rest of your life, a thing of beauty.