"Another Saturday Night..."

Which is the title of a Cat Stevens song, but it is also where I am this evening. Yep, another boring Saturday night. What is with this particular time of the week? We all work like crazy to get here, and then when we are here it just kind of slinks by. Especially as we get older.
When I was young I lived at the beach. I think back now and it was pretty idyllic. I was responsible for me, and only me. The only bill I had was my rent every payday. I didn't pay utilities, and I didn't own a car. I hardly ate much, either. By the time I was 18 I was completely on my own, and that is how I ended up living by the ocean. I grew up 'Out West', but once I got to the East Coast that was it- I have loved being here ever since.
Anyway, I lived in a tiny little seaside resort town in southern Maine, my boarding house was two blocks away from the beach, and during the summers I had every other night off. So that meant going home after work, getting cleaned up, then heading back down to the oceanfront, and my friends. Sometimes my boyfriend had the night off, sometimes not. My friends and I would just wander around town, stopping in at my families' restaurant (where we all had summer jobs) to see our other friends that were working (and my boyfriend), going over to the arcade for pinball or skee ball, or sometimes going to the movies. It seemed like every Saturday night the waitresses at the restaurant would be having a party so if we were working we headed over there after work, or if I had the night off I would be there by 8pm. It was something to look forward to. A great way to spend my Saturday nights.
Then by the time I got to college I was well versed in the Saturday night ritual of partying. Especially at my university, the University of Maine- our school song was 'The Maine Stein Song'. No joke, how could we NOT party? The cool thing about being at university is that the weekend really starts on Thursday evening- if you don't have an exam on Friday. So by the time 'Saturday Night Live' came on at 11:30 pm we all had our fill of the party life and were ready for a quiet Sunday. But we did utilize our Saturday nights to their fullest. Ahhh, what an education!
I think after graduation Saturday nights went downhill steadily. We all grew up and got real lives- lives that involved structure and responsibility. Sure, we all tried to keep Saturday nights open so we could get to know our new friends at our new jobs better, but they all started to do stuff like get married and have families. That pretty much quashed Saturday nights for them. And then for folks like me. Heck, I even married my boyfriend I met in Maine, and we ended up just kind of 'vegging' in front of the TV on most Saturday nights. We didn't want to spend our money going out, we 'had plans' for a future. And here we are, living in our 'future', but it doesn't include going out.
We are home on Saturday nights, still. Well, maybe before too long we can get back into the groove- start going out again. Will it be like it was before? I don't think so. Saturday nights now won't ever be like they were when I was 18. They might be OK, but they will never live up to the ones I had then. At my age I don't think I could stand it.