Just Like A Normal Family

Thursday is by far the best night of the week around here. Monday and Wednesday M has swim practice from 7-8, which means the evening is basically taken up with rushing and schlepping. Also on Monday S usually works and I often have a meeting (and luckily we have a great sitter). Tuesday I have a meeting from 4-6, and sometimes another meeting at 6, which means general exhaustion and grumpiness on my part. Friday S usually works while M, E, and I have Chinese and DVDs night, which is a lot of fun for us, but not ideal in the big familial picture. But on Thursdays we’re all home, we have no commitments, and it’s lovely.

Last night, for instance, S got home early enough for me to go for a run (though my final sprints over cracked sidewalks in the dark left me a little worried about neck-breaking). We had stir-fry with scallops for dinner (E, as per usual, had rice), and then M and E played happily together, S read the new T.C. Boyle novel, and I cleaned the kitchen and delivered half a HONEY Chocolate Cake to S and F down the street who love HONEY cakes. I got to play with their twins for a few minutes, and still have time to hang out with my kids when I got back.

Everybody was home, nobody had to rush, we had no obligations. I always imagine it’s like that every night in the homes of normal families. I’m probably wrong.

[And by the way, S thinks you should go listen to Fatboy Slim and Bootsy Collins’s cover of Steve Miller’s The Joker, and so do I.]