Thank God It's Friday

There have been times in my life where "TGIF" has resonated with me--such as when I was teaching public school full time. But it's been a long time since I kept the sort of schedule where I looked forward to Friday.

I'm back to appreciating Fridays. My part-time job playing piano for a local high school requires that I be there M-Th mornings as well as Tuesday evening. But I negotiated to have Friday mornings off because I knew I would need that time for catching up on homeschooling and other household matters. I am a morning person--it's when I think the most clearly and accomplish the most in the least amount of time. But I have now turned over more than 50 percent of my best brain time to a paying job.

I really don't know how two-income families do it. There are so many things that need to be done during the 40-hour work week. How do families where both parents work 8-5 get it all done? How do they find time for the housework and the cooking and the chauffeuring and the car repairs and the doctor appointments and the grocery shopping and the trips to the drycleaner, library, and veterinarian? I had trouble getting it all done before, but as a homeschooling/partially stay-at-home mom I have some flexibility--if I need to cancel school for some higher purpose, I can. But I can't cancel going to work. The number of hours over which I have sole control has lessened considerably.

So when I woke up this morning (at 6:00 instead of 5:00) and didn't have to immediately hop in the shower so as to get out the door by 6:30, it was a glorious, luxurious feeling. I enjoyed a little computer time, visited with my husband, and read aloud and watched a video about the Battle of Agincourt with my two older children. I cuddled in bed with my five-year-old. But I didn't make much headway on the task list--all those things that have been waiting all week for Friday. Suddenly it was lunchtime and then it was time to take my daughter to art class, and then half the day was gone. Where did all the time go? There's just never enough of it. Yesterday between driving to and from work, taking my daughter to and from her afternoon classes at the day school and my youngest son to and from his gym class, and driving to and from two different choir rehearsals, I spent about three hours in the car. Three hours of pure driving. I have finally figured out that all that time in the car should not go to waste and have gotten some books on tape to listen to.

Ah, what I would do if I had more time. I would be able to teach my children the way I would like, to read, to watch those funny YouTube videos and follow the links people send me, to play with friends on Facebook, to follow all the blogs I would like, to exercise regularly, to practice piano more, to spend more time on food preparation, and to keep in better touch with friends.

I don't have that much time. But I do have some. Time to get busy making the most of it.