Friday ~ In high school the word Friday was sort of like magic. It held this aura of fun ~ the weekend~ which equaled more sleep, and two glorious days of not having to sit in a desk for what seemed like endless hours. I maybe had a chore or two but really it was the golden age of not much but homework and play. After graduation, and I got a job, Fridays still held that beautiful hue. That sheen and sparkle of endless possibilities and I still liked it a lot. When I got married my husband and I both had Saturdays off for that first year and our Saturday mornings were always relaxing and sweet. My husband still waxes eloquent about those Saturday mornings so long ago. So long ago..So long in fact that I can't really remember them. But don't worry I actually have a picture of myself in something cute in bed, because I'm weird like that. I apparently document almost everything and I actually documented one Saturday morning. So I know we did have those mornings.
Fast forward till now. It is Friday. I immediately light up for about half a second and I do this every single Friday! Every Friday morning I feel that old glow! I am so serious. But then I crash down hard. Reality is a hag sometimes right? I realize Friday means I actually clean MORE because EVERYONE (which means three adults and four children) is home all weekend. If all your children are home now you might not get this as much as I do now. If your children go to school ~ the weekend might mean you are ALL home. I usually need to grocery shop by Friday. If I don't prepare for us all being home the house will basically not be livable and by Monday I will be a broken mess because of the massive piles of everything that has accrued on every possible surface. So Friday is extra work day and by Saturday I am so tired after the long week and the extra work Friday I am an emotional mess. So Saturday isn't quite the glorious me day it used to be. Oh Friday...oh friday....
Friday nights are no different then say Monday or Saturday. At first it was stay up late and watch a movie because it wasn't a school night, or even better have a sleep over with a friend!! After all it was FRIDAY. Friday was date night when I got a bit older. Then when I was married I think we used to stay up later because we could do that whole, sleeping in, thing on Saturday. Sometimes I feel like I should stay up later just to make it feel special or to remind myself of 'old times'. I say to myself....it's FRIDAY! Like I should be able to do something crazy. Which makes no sense because its not like I get to CHOOSE to stay up late any other night and if I DO stay up late its like me choosing to age myself even more. Yes lets give those bags and wrinkles taking up permanent residence on my face even more fuel ~ because its Friday.
To be honest Friday DOES signify that there could be that bonus that maybe my husband might be around to 'help out' with the children and 'lift the load' a bit for the next two days. Maybe I could get a nap in or whatever, and sometimes that happens. I guess that is why I still light up a bit. My body has not completely given up. However lots of Saturdays the word 'work' is still is in the vocabulary for him which means he is gone or out in the shop and it feels like any other day.
You get my point. I know the day will come where every day is Friday. I sort of imagine that once all the children have grown up and moved away and my husband retires (like that day will ever come because he loves to work) then we will have those mornings again. We will have Friday nights and blah blah blah. Who am I kidding. I know perfectly well that what I have right now is amazing. Sleeping in is overrated and the children have somehow beat that out of me anyway. How I used to be able to 'sleep in' until 11am is beyond me. I just can't do it. Getting up at 8:30 or 9am seems like a miracle to me now and I can't sleep past that anyway. I am just lying there wide awake after eight. When we are at the retirement stage unless I am sick I can't imagine wasting that much of a precious day.
So even though Fridays used to mean something A LOT different....it meant the next day was time for me ~ to be lazy, to be relaxed, to have fun, to be all about me, me, me....Now it means that everyone is home. Yes it means my work load is more but it means that we all get to be together. We get to fight together, mess up the house together, we get to wish we could have a longer time to do this all together. If my husband goes to work I feel the sting of it even more because it is the weekend. I miss him more. The weekend means a lot of wonderful things. A different kind of wonderful than it ever did. So Friday, as much as you used to mean glittery golden things, I guess now you mean so much more.
It's Friday and I am up to my neck in laundry :) Getting ready for a big ol weekend where we might all get to be together for a full day, and maybe even two! Do you see how I just talked myself into liking Fridays again? It's not just about me anymore or him and I. It's about all of us and that is one of the countless gifts we get as parents. The realization that this life is not all about the weekends and ourselves. It is about getting to all be together and trying to make that as happy and stress free as possible. I couldn't have dreamed or comprehended that back in the day. I didn't appreciate the sleeping in and the date nights as much as I should have. However I think maybe I realize I am appreciating these weekends as much as I can. I get it just a bit more. Fridays used to be the best day but it is still a good day and the weekends are even better!!!
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