Responsible Smurf

For my last four semesters of college, my final class of the week would end on Thursday afternoon, allowing me a three-day weekend and effectively turning Fridays into the new Saturdays. My how times have changed, I thought yesterday, as I woke up to yet another Saturday filled with a seemingly endless list of tasks to be completed. When, I thought, did I become responsible for so many chores? When did Saturdays become the new Fridays?

Every Saturday, for the last five weeks, I have woken up, gotten coffee, and sat down to write out my weekend to-do list so that I would not forget anything. Something I should be doing on a Monday, at work - not on a bright sunny Saturday morning. But there's just always something. Last week was my taxes. The week before, I had to go to the eye doctor for a new prescription. The week before that, I believe I was mopping. This week, it turned out unexpectedly, I had to get new car insurance.

I knew my insurance contract was up this month; however I had been expecting a renewal notice in the mail, just like last year. It suddenly occurred to me that since my two-year anniversary in LA had just passed, I must be cutting it close with the car insurance, as well. I went to view my policy, and sure enough, it had expired three days prior, on the 21st. I had been driving around for three days with no insurance!

I called the company, and unsurprisingly, they were closed for the weekend. I left a voice mail, more for my own backup than anything else, should (God forbid) something happen in the small time frame in which I was uninsured. Given the Frankenfinger incident, in which I visited the Emergency Room during the only 30 days of my life that I WASN'T covered by health insurance, I wasn't taking any chances. Then I remembered a flier for Mercury insurance I had been saving for when I got the renewal, so that I could compare quotes. I called their toll-free number and was pleased to find that they had 24 hour customer service. On weekends! The woman gave me a reasonable quote and the name of two agents less than a mile from me. By 1:00 PM that afternoon, I had a new insurance policy that is less that what I was paying before. So, yay for that.

But then I had to go back to Lenscrafters to pick up my trial lenses I had ordered two weeks ago. The doctor said they looked fine, but to come back (again) next week, just to make sure. That's three Saturdays of my life spent at the eye doctor. I know my eyes are important, but really?

And then there is the endless cycle of food shopping, Target runs, laundry, and dry cleaning that gets pushed to the weekend because weeknights are reserved for the gym and social outings. Of course, some of my other weekend tasks are not so much chores but just an effort on my part to fit into society - regular waxing, pedicures, haircuts and gym trips aren't much more than routine maintenance but take up valuable time nonetheless. (Speaking of the gym, I've been on a super ambitious running kick lately, which has taken up to two hours of every Saturday as I have been greatly increasing my mileage.)

I'm not so much complaining about all that needs to get done over the weekends, just wondering when it happened that I suddenly became a grown-up with chores? I still feel like I should be pushing a Fisher-Price shopping cart around the supermarket, or at least just nursing a hangover in my jammies; not responsibly managing my bank account or (irresponsibly) worrying about car insurance. When, exactly, did Saturday mornings go from being all about cartoons and shopping splurges to seeming like an unofficial sixth day of the workweek?

I must have slept in that morning.