We’ve been on vacation in the woods, which, as usual, has brought us home with a lovely sense of detachment from the daily sturm und drang of our glittering, hard-charging, are-we-already-too-late-to-register style of life here. A soft coating of marshmallowy bliss swathes us inside a peaceful cocoon where birds call, insects buzz, and trees don’t do anything at all but occasionally let their leaves waft.
It is time, however, to scrape off the s’more remains and start acting appropriately. We shall begin by sobbing uncontrollably as we contemplate the many upcoming College Financial Planning Nights offered locally by Everett & Associates, Inc. These include one at Dominican University on Thursday, Aug. 16, from 7 to 8:15 p.m. and two at Triton College, next Tuesday and Thursday, Aug. 21 and 23, also from 7 to 8:15 p.m. (771-7777). Our latest thought concerning paying for college for our high school senior is to go to one of these helpful seminars and run naked back and forth behind the podium, with one or two strategically placed Monopoly bills glued coyly to body parts, screaming that the world is ending.
Thus unburdened of our pent-up frustration, we’ll be ready for Ballroom Dance lessons on Friday, Aug. 17, from 8 to 9 p.m. at Intuit Dance, 237 Harrison St. (524-0500). After we’ve sashayed the old chiffon around the dance floor, we’ll saunter our elegant selves over to the new Trattoria 225 at 225 Harrison St. for the free drink our dance ticket entitles us to. If the first drink does not restore us to a mental landscape of trees and breezes, we may have another. If we’re still suffering from a nagging sense of having forgotten to sign someone up for something, we’ll take a bottle for the road and twirl ourselves gracefully home, waltzing in the moonlight down the sidewalks of south Oak Park.