Every Day is Thursday

As Thursday night winds down, I’m left asking myself, “Am I the only one that thinks every day feels like a Thursday?” Seriously. I can’t shake this Thursday feeling. As one day slowly rolls into the next, I’m quickly losing grasp of time and reality.

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom in the past for a combined ten years. I know what it feels like to naively lose track of the days of the week. But this is all different. When you or your spouse are working out of the house, the days of the week make sense. There’s a rhythm combined with moods that rise and set each week, very predictably, like the summer sun.

Mondays are all business; the start of a fresh week. Starting Monday we’re going to get up earlier, give ourselves five extra minutes for the school drop-off line, do more laundry, and focus on being the best parent we can be this week. We’ve got this!

Tuesdays are really just the Second Act of Monday; nothing special, but at least it’s not still Monday! There’s a plan for dinner, as long as you stick to it with all the after-school running taking place. Kids didn’t get showers tonight, but it’s ok. You’re still a pretty good parent.

Wednesday. The mullet of the week. We like to appear all business in the front, like we’ve still got life under control, but the party in the back is already looking forward to the weekend! I have no idea what’s for dinner, and there’s a load of wet clothes in the washer that have been there since Monday. But hey, we’re halfway through the week!

Thursday is here. It’s almost Friday, but not yet. Don’t get too excited. There are still things we have to get done, but we’re starting to make plans to see our friends. We’re already looking forward to unwinding with other moms or our favorite couples; you know who you are. We can’t wait to spend the evening laughing and sleeping-in the next morning. We’ve gotta get through one more work day, then it’s go time. Thursday’s not bad, but it will never be Friday.

Friday we watch the clock tick down. Tick, tick, tick. When the work day is done we let out a collective sigh.  We’ve made it through another week. Friday night is the best way to kick off the weekend. It feels like bonus weekend time. The countdown to Monday morning doesn’t actually start until Saturday, so we’re throwing our responsibilities out the window for one night. No bedtimes, and we’re getting take-out, of course. 

Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! The greatest of all days. No school. No work. No Monday morning anxiety. Who doesn’t love a Saturday filled with a day at the ballpark or sitting around a fire roasting marshmallows? We work all week so we can socialize on Saturdays. I mean, this is the one day of the week that we all work for anyways, right? 

Sunday. Well look who dared to show up again. Party-pooper Sunday is back to remind us that in just 24 hours it all starts over again. Sunday is the day we rewash the clothes that have been sitting in the washer all week. It’s the day we plan our meals and grocery shop for the produce that will go bad next week, only to be tossed. The day the alarm clocks anticipate has drifted in with it’s cloud-covered expressionless gloom. Party’s over. Thanks a lot, Sunday.

But now the week lacks this day-by-day personality. We’re all home…all the time. No leaving for work. No leaving for school. We’re on our own schedules with checklists of tasks to accomplish. While I long for Fridays and Saturdays, we seem to have paused on that ever-tempting Thursday. Paused? I guess it’s more like we’re stuck on Thursday. So no social gathering with friends; no sleepovers for the kids; no baseball games; no dance practice; nothing. There are just no other days. We can wishfully plan to see our friends and family as much as we want, but until we get past this Thursday thing, it’s not happening. 

That being said, I appreciate this time home with family. I really do. And I think the dogs are starting to adjust to the daily schoolwork hours that have interrupted their naps without prior authorization. But I think we are all longing for the day when we sweep past eternal Thursday and bust into the weekend like the Kool-Aid man. I’m ready for the much-anticipated guiltless gatherings of Friday nights. I have to admit that the idea of being social again makes me so excited that I may even invite that party-pooper, Sunday. Then we can roll right into our normal weekdays that were previously under-appreciated. I’ll gladly take back Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, as long as I get to reunite with friends and family on Friday and Saturday. It would just be so nice to see someone other than Thursday, for once.