Three Event Day

I remember being in my twenties and doing so much on a weekend I only shared a portion of my activities with my much older co-workers. Looking back, I realize they were in their forties, or maybe fifties, but when you are 22, they were much closer to my parents' ages. Their children were grown. They had grown up houses (as opposed to our row home). Grown up responsibilities.

They were younger than I am now.

Even the curated version of how I spent my weekend gave the impression I was much busier than they seemed to feel possible. 

In some ways I slowed down to only a couple of activities on a weekend. More than that and I do need time to recharge -- physically and mentally. I don't want to be that busy. I want time to sit down and process life. 

Today is one of those recharging days.

A couple of weeks ago I had three vastly different events to go to. One needed a complete wardrobe change to transform into a different version of me.

The first was a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) meeting. Since learning we have a DAR relative (Noah Wiswell) who valiantly walked 28 miles from Newtown, MA to the Battle of Lexington at the age of 66 to fight in the war along his sons I've been curious about joining. BTW, adding to the cool factor of Captain Wiswell is that his birthday was the day before mine (270 years earlier).

When my friend Stacy said she was
presenting her research about Lady Sterling a the next DAR meeting in Princeton, I decided to check it out. Her speech was wonderful, and I would love to hear her again. But, sitting in Nassau Hall with minorities quietly white serving us tiny portions of a goat cheese salad or chicken sandwich while wearing white gloves made me cringe. I wore a dress, stockings, pearls, and high heels to dress the part. I didn't realize they had their own parking lot (a rarity in Princeton) so I walked fifteen minutes in the get up. I even had one person cede the sidewalk to me, which gives you a sense of how out of time I looked.

I politely declined the invitation to join.

I dashed home and changed into my usual attire of shorts and tee-shirt and drove to the Lawrenceville School for a symposium about the history of Lewisville Road. The audience was perhaps half white and half black, with a few other minorities represented. I felt at home listening to inspirational messages encouraging us to keep their history alive.

As I type this I see the irony in that the mission of the DAR is to keep the history alive. They are trying to encourage younger women, and women of other ethnicities to join, but they will always be elitist -- must be a woman, and must trace your family tree to someone who fought in the war. For years, we thought we only had people who lived here then, which is already divisive.

The third event required another change. This time because the forecast was calling for cooler temperatures. Don and I went to Burlington County's Arts After Dark event -- a one-night festival with storytelling, art, artisans, and music. I wish it was longer, though I respect it is a lot to organize. This was my second year.

Don and I hung out with Ashley's art teacher, Brittany, and her husband. Then Ashley and Anna joined us, which was a treat.

 

There was no time to cook dinner in the middle of all that, so we ate out at the Flying Pig Tavern in Bordentown - the original location which got its name when they told their friends they would transform their food truck to a restaurant "when pigs fly." They are about to open their fourth location. All are run by family and close friends of the owners. (No advertising dollars were received for that plug, but they would be welcomed.) Had our favorite server, Melanie, whose daughter is about Ashley's age, though they did not go to school together but have friends in common. Small world!

Perfect way to end a busy day.