What do the following have in common?
Leaving a bit earlier from work
No clean up or chores
Stopping at the Dep for a treat, or a samosas in Beauty’s
case at the dep, or a cupcake in my case
Not getting anything done on the "home domestic to do list"
that you intended to do
Shutting the blackberry off or leaving it at the bottom
of the purse
Chatting for an hour with one of your BFF’s on the phone
about nothing and everything both wrapped up in our individual homes in big blankets
Deli chicken wings and frozen fries for dinner
Watching Survivor and eating at the coffee table
No homework
Writing a blog in a relaxing way
The kids having enough time to prepare a haunted house
all together without us telling them to hurry up and get to bed.
Friday
Nights. Love them. Always have and always will.
A colleague of mine reminded me recently of how much emphasis
I used to put on them when the kids were growing up. Pizza and a movie every
single Friday night….a great family ritual.
Then they got a bit older. And more friends were
involved..And they started to be invited for pizza and a movie at the neighbors…and
then we would go up to to the cottage on Friday nights early more and more
often...
And somewhere along the way we had about 5 yrs. of Fridayless nights LSomehow we started worrying about our kids and their friendships and starting encouraging
them to be out instead of in..where
ultimately they belong. With us if they wanted to be. We let them down for half a decade....
And then he reminded
me of that tradition, that Swiss colleague and commanded me to bring it back.
And so I listened to him as I so often do and I did. I welcomed them back into
that special Friday night tradition.
So now our Friday nights are for anyone who is home. You
can come. You can bring a friend. You can be here. Or not be here. Sometimes we
are just Hubby and I and sometimes we are all 5 and sometimes we are us with 8
kids bc each has a friend. Sometimes we leave for the cottage at 9pm and
sometimes we indulge in it and don’t.
But you can count on a treat, a cuddle, a haunted house,
some trumpet practicing in your ear, no blackberries, some yummy food, some
caffeine free diet cokes, a good well deserved martini and a whole lot of
people falling asleep on the couch together after a busy week.
Happily
Spent is what comes to mind
I always, always want my kids, my teens and my one day
young women and men big kids to know that Friday nights we always want them with us. And when we are really old our grandchildtren too. I have no intention of letting my kids move anywhere out of my neighborhood ever. Harvard?? No way! Pizza night remember ? (funny thing is I am totally serious)
They are always WELCOME. And should feel no guilt if they
are not here either. Friday nights are full of choice.
And they will always have somewhere to hang out.
With us. Just like Halloween. Just like Valentine’s day. We share our holidays with our kids.
We may not be the coolest friends ever, but we love them
more than any friend ever will. These years are so ultimately precious.
I am glad I stole back Friday nights. Gotta go eat some
chicken wings, pumpkin cookies, fries And Halloween special of Jesse. After
that I have a date to fall asleep on the couch with my boy and my girl and my
girl’s adorable friend with her new braces and glasses. And then be woken up by
my teen at 10pm to go in the car, pick him up from his friend’s house, and pray
I don’t have to go in to meet the Mom since I will most definitely be in my
Pajamas!
