Friday Night

We had a great Friday night tonight. It made me think a little about the way I've viewed Friday nights throughout my life.

As a child, Friday nights meant the start of the weekend off from school. They often included a babysitter and macaroni and cheese or pizza for us kids while my parents went on a date. I loved Friday nights.

As a teenager, Friday nights were the best part of the week. Friday nights meant going out with friends for some fun, conversation, and maybe a little flirting. Friday nights meant football or basketball games, a movie night at the neighbors' house, or night games at the school.

In college, Friday nights meant a break from the homework grind. I might study all day on Saturday, but Friday night was my chance to take a guilt-free break. My roommates and I would find something fabulous happening on campus, or I might have a date, and I'd enjoy my night of freedom and fun.

But now I am in the midst of a whole different kind of Friday night. Sure, there is still the monthly date night, and there is still plenty of flirting. ;) It's still a night to take a break from some things. But life is so, so different. :)

Tonight, for example, we watched the three daughters of our friends. We took the kids to the park where Gerald and I tried to finish an entire conversation between running girls to the bathroom and giving underdogs on the swings. Then we went home and baked cookies. After that, I painted 40 finger nails and 40 toenails, each with very distinct requests for color patterns and sticker choices. We watched Angelina Ballerina. We all tickled Gerald. We read stories. We played hide and seek. And we had an excellent night. :)

I wonder what I might have thought ten or twenty years ago, if told how I would spend a typical Friday night at this point of my life. And I wonder about how Friday nights are going to continue to change with the passing decades.

Sometimes I miss those carefree days from college and high school. But not too much, because I absolutely love this stage I'm in now. And I am determined to enjoy my Friday nights to their fullest, because someday down the road I'm going to have plenty of time and freedom in my life again. And I know I am going to miss this.