Another Friday Night

What do you do on Friday night? When I was a teenager, Friday night was THE night. That was when youth group happened. I lived for the excitement of being a part of all the crazy events that happened. I remember one night, we brought in dry ice to create some sort of "club" atmosphere (in the most spiritual way we could). I also remember going out of town to the Diddley do's who were hosting the whole youth group at their place. My sister and I said we would take two brothers back to their home afterward. One of the brothers said he knew a short cut (The warning bells should have been going off right then). It was in the days before cell phones. And of course, we got horribly lost and a trip which should have taken 1/2 hour ended up taking us 2 1/2 hours. We were most concerned about what our parents would say and how many days we'd be grounded. [although as I recall, they didn't ground us, once they heard the story, but I can imagine that we added a few gray hairs to their heads that night]

In this season of our lives, my husband and I view Friday night as a mental celebration of making it through the week and tackling all the challenges that came our way. (Our weeks can sometimes feel a little like being contestants on those new game shows, where people have to jump on those jumbo trampolines, and dodge jumbo obstacles coming their way or get dumped into the freezing water below)

My husband likes to celebrate Friday nights with a round of pizza. [Is it bad when the pizza joint knows you by name?] It totally confuses him when I serve pizza on say, a Tuesday. His whole week gets messed up. So even though I sometimes threaten to serve pizza on a night that doesn't start with Fri. , I am generally kinder to him and try to keep it clear of anything that might resemble a crust with tomato sauce and toppings such as pepperoni and cheese. A confused husband is a bewildered husband.

Often, I look forward to a movie on a Friday. To me, there's something decadent about putting your jammies on and getting out the Diet Coke and munchies and watching a movie. Or I'll laze about while watching "What Not to Wear" or a few episodes of "Say Yes To The Dress".

Recently, the fabric of our Friday night family time has changed. The kids are more inclined to go to friend's houses or have friends over. So we find ourselves driving around town, picking up other people's children to join us. Or we find ourselves driving around town, dropping them off at other people's places to join their family for a night.

No matter how it turns out, there's always something magical to me about Friday nights. It is the culmination of the week- where a collective sigh of relief is heard because the reprieve of the weekend is about to begin.