Friday ... The New Sunday

Sunday has been my favorite day of the week for a very, very long time.

I believe it was tagged as my favorite during my old, crazy life. The life where I ran a daycare for 11 hours a day, 5 days a week. Then (for a change of pace and to surround myself with adults for a day) worked 6 hours on Saturday outside of my home. Then, for a few years, I tossed in paper &/or flyer delivery into the mix. The one thing that kept me sane during that time was the fact that Sunday was my day off. From everything.

Even in my new life (where I go to school, run my daycare only before and after school and squeeze bookkeeping into my life where ever I choose), Sunday has remained my favorite day. Because it incorporates our new family tradition of 'Sunday suppers'. No matter what I do on Sunday, it must be wrapped up in time to cook or go out for supper (working on a Sunday is ever-so-much-easier when you know your family won't expect you to cook).

My new Sundays have a different flavor than the old. But I love them just the same. It is a day to stop and focus on my family. I love it.

But my Fridays are starting to develop their own unique qualities. Qualities that I'm learning to love as well.

I believe that Friday started having its own special 'flavor' because it follows Thursday night. Thursday night = dance lessons. Dance lessons = a new lease on life. Every single week. I wake up Friday mornings and I'm energized and excited from the night prior. Friday mornings are the best!

More often than not, I am able to wrap up my school hour commitment by Friday. Which means that Friday is often 'my day'.

I can spend the day doing what I want to do. This may never become a novelty to me. After 11 years of being bound to my home from the hours of 6:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday ... I may never lose the appreciation that I have gained to simply be able to be unaccountable to no one for six hours, one day per week (while the kids are in school).

I can choose to work. I can choose to run around to various appointments and tend to errands. I can putter the day away doing what I want, when I want. As long as I'm home for my after-school kids.

The past handful of Friday nights have been devoted to going out with a new group of friends. It is fun and exciting to take the tentative steps of getting to know this new group. This new Friday night tradition makes me feel like I'm back on my Great Dance Adventure. It is a time where I can step out of my life and into a group. Become part of a whole. And get to know people that I've had only a nodding acquaintance with, a little better. I love this new experience and I do hope the tradition carries on.

Yesterday, this new group of friends didn't come up with anything to do or anywhere to go. I hope that doesn't stop a good thing. I hope we can pick up the ball and carry it onto new adventures in the Fridays that follow.

I didn't have this Friday Night Adventure on my agenda this week, but in its place I reconnected with old friends.

I spent the afternoon with good friends. I talked too much ... but in the end, each of us had the chance to tell the others what was going on in our lives.

What I love about these friends, is that when we sit down and talk ... we really talk. We trust each other with the under currants of what is going on in the lives that we are living. And there is a lot going on.

I sat and I listened (yes, novel for me ... I know). As each of them talked honestly about the challenges that they or a loved one faces, it changed my perspective on so many things.

These friends are my heroes. They stand up to whatever curves life has to throw at them. They champion for their family. They have such capacity for loving, giving, caring and fighting for those they love. It takes my breath away.

I look up to these friends. Unbeknownst to them, they were my mentors long before we became friends. They have qualities that make them stand out. Qualities that I aspire to incorporate into myself. I am still awe struck that these heroes of mine ... have become my friends. I know that I am a better person because of them.

After a most excellent afternoon, I returned to my easy and predictable life. I reflected on our conversations. I simply savored the afterglow of a visit with close friends.

I confronted the bookkeeping task that was facing me. And that is how I spent my Friday night. Not a night out with friends ... but it was a good night none-the-less.

Then ... just as I was winding up my work, the phone rang. A friend that I have been trying to reach for quite a while now, returned my call.

When a few calls/emails/letters aren't returned, I always take a step back. I don't like to push myself on someone. I know that life is busy and most people are much busier than I am, so I don't take offense when I don't hear back from some one. More often than not, I'll think that they are busy and I'll try back at another date.

But this particular friend is one that has been through a rather rough time lately. I knew that I wanted to make contact but I didn't want to push it. When my calls weren't returned, I thought that perhaps the message wasn't relayed. I wasn't worried. I thought 'I'll try later' ...

And yesterday, I did.

We are going out for lunch today. We talked for half an hour on the phone last night and I was updated on the myriad of reasons why she hadn't had a chance to call me back (hospitalization is perhaps as good a reason as any, to not worry about returning a call. Don't you think?).

I have had a handful of heart-to-heart talks with this friend. It's a mutual give and take of conversation. Our lives are parallel on so many levels that I believe we were related in another life (I feel this way a lot ... just last week, I chatted on the phone with a sister-from-another-life ... yet another friend I want to know better).

Yes, Fridays are developing their own personality. As I carve out my new life, I am planning to incorporate this new found flexibility into my working days. I took a tentative step and asked my current employer what lies in store after I'm done school. And the future looks bright. I believe that my next full-time job will be one that affords me the luxury of the feeling of my New Friday.

Flexible Fridays. Yup ... I like the sound of that. But I'm still holding onto my Family Suppers on Sundays. And dancing on Thursdays. Pretty soon, each day will have its own Flavor of the Week. I kinda like that.