Friday

How many of you are doing the "tgif" thing today? It amazes me as I follow several facebook friends whose main status updates incorporate some version of longing for Friday--every day of the week! What is that anyway?

Maybe it's dissatisfaction with their job, or school. Problems with work-mates or unpleasant teachers; I don't know. Maybe it's just longing for some unstructured weekend time to catch their breath or get chores done. But then, first thing you know, they're moaning about it being Sunday and they've got to go back to work and long for Friday once more.

I took a look at Wikipedia and discovered just an enormous amount of information about Friday, its origins, rites and rituals associated by various cultures and countries around the world. Those are the Muslims at Friday prayer in the picture up above. Why Friday? Well, it's simple. For them the Jews had Saturday and the Christians had Sunday, so coming in five hundred years later--Friday became the Muslim holy day.

It's interesting how rituals get connected to days of the week. Many of us, without any Catholic connections at all, may still eat fish on the occasional Friday, just because it's Friday. Friday is the day of the long drive to whatever weekend destination feels right, despite the inevitable traffic jams heading out of the city and up the very same road. (A road that will be virtually empty next morning, but never mind.)

My weekends this summer have been practice time for retirement. Lots of sitting on the deck enjoying the silence. I'm reminded of Carman's lovely tribute from last year. He spoke of Bishop DeLapp and Doc Cheville and their two very different attitudes about retirement. Whichever one chooses, there is not much concern over which day of the week it is.

Welcome to Friday! may it be a good day for you. Enjoy your long weekend and next week we welcome Carman back from his well-earned vacation.

Posted by Marion