bedtime

Here is an off the wall question for you. Are "friends" and by that I mean people with whom we have no romantic or sexual entanglement, neuter? Sexless? Or does gender matter in all relationships? Something I'm pondering.

I added almost 3000 words to my novel today. 3000 words that I rewrote enough times to feel pretty sure they will stay. I'm nearly drained of energy though. That and being up four times in the night last night. I do hate the telephone sometimes.

It's been a long time since I wrote a memory. It is late, and I am tired, but I want to get back to it so hopefully a short one will stop by tonight.

When I was 7 and my brother was 8, it was our responsibility to do the dishes. We had several other chores too, but the dishes could be a problem. My mother worked nights then, in a factory, and my father worked days, as a steamfitter. Mom left for work at 3:30 in the afternoon, had a supper break at 8:00 and got off work at midnight. She made dinner before she went to work, so all my dad had to do was heat it up, and we all ate with Mom at 8. Her job was only a couple of blocks away, which gives you some sense of the neighborhood I grew up in.

Mom was one of those great cooks that never measured or studied or anything. She never served the same meal twice in memory, probably more than two weeks, and she never made traditional kid food. I had to have kids of my own to know that things such as chicken fingers existed. But salmon patties, liver and onions, Swiss steak… those were the kinds of meals mom made for weeknights. Never pizza or spaghetti or hot dogs. I smile now, thinking of how deprived I was!

Bedtime was always 9 pm, so when mom went back to work at 8:30, we had half an hour to wash and dry the dishes. Of course if we weren't finished by 9, we had to stay (oh no!!) until they were completed…we used to listen to top 40 radio and flip each other with dish towels and fight over washing and drying. The song that plays on the radio now that reminds me of those times is So Happy Together… was that the turtles? Can't remember. What I do remember is that my brother and I had many important serious talks over dishes.

Okay, I'm hallucinating with fatigue… white tigers?? Must be my cats.