My Saturday Hangout

I had to go to the laundry mat today.   Since the separation this has been a regular stop for me but the first time was pretty terrifying.  Now I feel like an old pro.  I saw another woman standing there looking confused and I walked up and explained everything to her.
       "You know" she told me conspiratorially, "this is my first time in a laundry mat!"
I had to laugh, and I told her how new I was to it.  It's amazing how quick we adapt to our new norm.
There I am folding my pretty, frilly panties from another life time next to the sweaty guy in a football polo and the little old lady old enough to be my grandma's grandma (ok, that may be stretching it - but old). She is dressed in a black floral print skirt that comes to her ankles and a bright orange short sleeve sweater belted tightly over her too tiny waist. How she can wear that in the heat of the laundry room on a warm summer afternoon I have no idea. Yeah, this is how I spend my Saturday afternoons now, kids sitting on plastic chairs playing games. Me, leaning a hip on a machine, sweat dripping between my breasts, counting quarters to see how many minutes of drier time I can purchase today.....