It’s almost like you’re comparing your weekend to their weekend. Maybe it’s just a phrase that we use over and over again.

What are you doing this weekend? The older you get, the more your weekends become very mellow.

I remember in my 20s, people would ask about my weekend and I would have a list of about forty things to do. “Oh my God, tonight I’m meeting some friends for happy hour and we’re going to go to this new bar that opened up on the upper Westside. Then we’re going to go to this club downtown. Tomorrow, I’m going to meet a couple guys for brunch. Then later in the afternoon, we’re going to go to this happy hour. Saturday night, we’re hitting some clubs. Then Sunday, we’re going to meet some more people for brunch.”

My weekend was so full, it’s no wonder I never felt relaxed in my 20s. I was always doing something on the weekends.

Now when people ask me what I’m doing this weekend, I say “Not much. Just chilling out. Watching a movie tonight. Getting some dinner. Staying home. Tomorrow night, maybe going out for dinner. Go for a bike ride maybe. Go for a walk.”

You kind of relax more as you get older. You tend to enjoy your weekends in a very different way.

When you’re in your 20s, you feel like you have to be doing so much on your weekends because if you’re not then your weekend is not going to be successful. I hated relaxing on my weekends when I was in my 20s. I really did.

Even when I had a summer share, I used to always make sure that I had eight million things to do. We’d go out drinking Friday night until 2:00 in the morning. We’d get up at 8:00, we’d play softball. Then, we’d go to the beach and go for a swim. Then, we’d go play some volleyball. Then, we’d pass out in the sun for a couple hours. Then, we’d start drinking at 5:00. Then, we’d go out again. Then Sunday, we’d wake up, play softball again.

By the time we left, all of us would be sleeping on the train. Of course, when we got back to the city we had to go see a movie. It’s always about doing things. But that’s what you do in your 20s.

You do much more on the weekends than you do in your 30s and 40s and 50s. Each time, though, is really good.

My relaxing weekends now are fantastic. My crazy weekends in my 20s were absolutely fantastic. It all depends on where you are at in your life.

So where are you at in your life, and what are you doing this weekend?

So now here I am on this beautiful Memorial Day weekend, layed out and miserable in about as much back pain as I can ever remember experiencing. I have so much pain in my right hip that I can’t put any pressure on my leg, so when I do get up and walk I end up looking like a cross between Cro-Magnum Man and one of the Sleezestack people from the new Land Of The Lost movie.

Anyway, laying here indoors on this beautiful holiday weekend has me thinking about summer and summer days. It’s the Saturday of Memorial Weekend, the unofficial beginning to Summer. It’s the weekend you get to glimpse all the great stuff you’re going to get to do all summer, and all the stuff you haven’t been able to do while you were suffering through that long Winter.

It also tends to make you think back on all the great summers you’ve had in your life, and all the great things you used to do that make Summer so much fun. I’ve talked about this before, but there are so many great things we all used to do on summer days.

People are always asking me about what makes for a great summer date. Do you know what the best summer dates are? You already do! Do something that you did when you were a kid.

I was thinking about some fun things I did as a kid. One of my favorites was that that we used to go in our backyard, pitch a tent and have a sleepover in the tent. Another favorite of mine was taking a pail and shovel to the beach and building sand castles.

Then there were the summer holiday festivities that were always so great. Watching 4th of July fireworks was always a highlight. Even better was bringing your own fireworks and setting them off with your friends.

Playing games with neighborhood kids — whether it was playing Ring, tag or a game of football – was always a blast. All the great barbecues where you’d have hot dogs and hamburgers off the grill was another of my favorite parts of every summer. Taking a great nighttime bike ride was always a great end to the day as well.

So now, on this Memorial Day weekend, why don’t you think about everything you used to enjoy doing in the summer as a kid. Think about how much fun summer was as a kid — running around, riding your bike and playing outside all day . . . until the streetlights came on signaling that it was time to come home.

Start thinking about all these great kid things you used to enjoy doing so much in the summer, and then start incorporating them into your adult life. Now that you’ve heard mine, why don’t you tell us some of your favorite summer memories.

What is your favorite summer memory as a kid?
What was your favorite thing to do in the summer as a kid?
What was your favorite summer time date when you were in high school?
What is your favorite high school date in the summer time or in college?

Let’s go back in time a little bit again, and let’s have some fun with Summer Days. It will hopefully help me take my mind off this pain I’m feeling today!

Enjoy the beginning of your Memorial Day weekend, and happy unofficial start of summer to you.