She Said, Z Said: Hanging Out with Old Friends Magically Makes Time Stand Still

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/092312_she_said_z_said_old_friends/

By Leslie Dinaberg and Zak Klobucher, Noozhawk Columnists | @lesliedinaberg

There's nothing like a beach house — and Ottmar Liebert — to set the mood to relaxation

She: Old friends are the best friends.

Z: I thought that was dogs.

She: One of our old friends rented a beach house this last weekend, and invited a bunch of us to Big Chill with him.

Z: And we didn’t even need a dead guy.

She: Or a Motown soundtrack.

Z: Just some Ottmar Liebert.

She: I’m still stunned that it’s A who rents the beach house. He’s the guy who used to wear in my leather pumps for me by walking around our apartment in L.A.

Z: You know what they say — little feet, big beach house.

She: Hanging out with a group of our old friends made me realize something.

Z: Beer and wine are good?

She: Initially, it made me nostalgic for the old days. When we were younger, we used to have entire weekends free to do nothing but hang around with our friends. We’d visit them in the Bay Area, or they’d come down to us. We’d eat and drink and chat and play, and next thing you know, the weekend would be over.

Z: You like hanging out and doing nothing? The woman who plans in five-minute increments?

She: I love it, and it worked out perfectly for this last weekend. For whatever reason, we had nothing else planned for the whole time. We drove to the house, we stayed for a few days, and then we left.

Z: If you liked hanging out so much when we were younger, then why were you always so annoyed when we’d spend an hour in a parking lot trying to decide what to do next?

She: Hmmm. There’s hanging out in your car; or there’s hanging out on a beach chaise with a million-dollar ocean view and cocktail in hand; and then there’s hanging out in a parking lot and driving me bat-frickin’-crazy. Just make a decision already!

Z: As I expected. You never completely mastered the art of time-frittering.

She: But I did this last weekend, and it was lovely. We seem to be at a point in our lives where we always have something planned, and if we don’t, then our friends do. There’s very little hanging out time.

Z: If we spent more time in parking lots, we could fix that.

She: And it’s probably just a temporary thing. All of our kids are going to grow up, and then we’ll have more free time again. I imagine that just as we used to find lots of empty weekends, we’ll find them again when we’re older.

Z: I picture a bunch of 70-year-olds in the parking lot of Denny’s trying to decide whether to go play poker or go bowling next.

She: Try 80 year olds. I’ll still be working to pay for college when I’m 70. But the thing that I realized — the point I was trying to get to before you kept wandering off into a parking lot — was that I appreciated the weekend even more because of its uniqueness. If we were doing this every weekend, would we really enjoy it as much?

Z: Yes. And why are you suddenly so rational and mellow? What have you done with my wife?

She: I sent her to a beach house for a weekend.

Z: We should definitely do that more often.

She: Sigh. Old friends really are the best friends.

Z: Yes, dear.

— Which Big Chill character are you? Tell She and Z by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Read She Said, Z Said every Monday on Noozhawk and follow them on Twitter: @lesliedinaberg. Click here for previous She Said, Z Said columns.

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/092312_she_said_z_said_old_friends/