I am happy to report it is finally Friday! I try not to be one to wish away the time, but this week in particular I have been secretly counting down the days and yearning for a calm Friday evening at home—Frances and George happily in bed, Will and I eating dinner in front of mindless television, Marshall and Max draped over the throw pillows on our sunroom sofas, and the entire weekend in front of us. Looking both forward and back, I realize this is one of the few weekends we will have since the time change when we don’t have a birthday party or a holiday event to attend. I am very (very) excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas (I know, how unique that I love these holidays, right?!), but in this calm before the storm we plan to have a weekend of very little structure and I couldn’t be happier.
In the weeks between mentally resolving to leave my career and actually stepping out of the door that final day, I remember wondering what weekends would feel like once I was home full-time. Thankfully, I was not so naïve to believe that every day would feel like a holiday (and I assure you, I have heard someone say that very thing to me – ‘now that you’re at home, it must be like you’re on vacation all of the time.’ Right. This person must have had some pretty laborious vacations. I love my children but please do not send them to Puerto Rico with me). I foolishly thought that weekend days would probably feel a lot like weekdays, with the addition of one set of hands that happened to belong to my soul mate. And yes, some weekends do feel like that. But the best weekends are those that Frances labels “Family Days” – when Will is truly relaxed, when the urgent errands have already been taken care of during the week (and the not-so-urgent ones can wait until Monday), and when our only must-dos are meals and naps (for at least two of us).
I recently finished reading an extraordinary novel – “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri (a book that I completely missed when it first came out, but found it thanks to a law school friend's recommendation - thanks, Annie!) It was beautifully written with a quiet, understated but interesting plot – an eloquent book. I loved crawling into bed at night knowing that I would be spending the next minutes as a voyeur to the characters’ lives. I truly felt like I could have read about them forever; but like all good books, it came to an end too quickly. I started the next book on my list ("The School of Essential Ingredients" - so far, so good), while desperately searching Amazon.com for another novel by Ms. Lahiri. From what I can tell, her other two books are short story collections – not something I am accustomed to reading (and which I typically instantly dismiss). But I may just have to try one of them out; I loved her writing that much.
And with that Top Chef: Texas is starting, so I am signing off to half-watch, half-fall asleep until Will wakes me up for bed. Hello Friday!
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