Friday Freedom

Because of the nature of my job, I have Fridays off. I work for a large church, as the director of children’s ministry (make no assumptions based on this fact, please – see the statement on my “About” page for my disclaimer), so Sunday is a huge work day…and that means my weekend consists of Friday and Saturday.

It’s great having a weekday for a regular day off. It makes life easier to have a business day open for post office trips, bank visits, and phone calls to, say, scream at Express Scripts / TMobile / Blue Cross for @#$%!-ing up my bill yet again.

I’ve had this job for nine great years, and when our kids were younger it was also really nice to have a day at home alone to do chores and tasks that are more difficult with a houseful of fun children. The day also allowed me time to volunteer at their schools, something I (almost) always enjoyed. In contrast to my original career as an elementary school teacher, my church job is very flexible; it allowed me to pick up the kids at dismissal time, work from home if they were home sick, or take off in the middle of the day as needed for orthodontist appointments…seven straight years of orthodontist appointments. AND unlike when I was teaching, I can pee Whenever. I. Want. To. Never underestimate the importance of freedom to go to the bathroom at will.

Okay, so back to Fridays: With two of our darlings far away and one completely occupied with college here in town, I’m now discovering that Fridays stretch out ahead of me rather like a cavernous, well…cavern. I can find plenty to do, if I feel like it – there’s always dusting, vacuuming, grocery shopping, errands, coffee with friends. All this was good  back when I could look forward to the house exploding with laughter, singing, and loud conversation when the crew got home at 3:15, often with friends in tow to make the party even more raucous. But knowing that the quiet is going to go on and on and on takes all the joy out of those necessary chores and and even out of the little treats I plan for myself. Darn it, even typing these thoughts is making me choke up…

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It becomes increasingly evident that I have to find more to do with my time, for the sake of emotional survival. In the words of Colonel Brandon in “Sense and Sensibility,” “Give me some occupation or I shall run mad.”

Stay tuned for updates…

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