Weekending for the Work Week

Mark Cutrona (over at To Seek A Newer World) posted the other day about working for the weekend; the idea that the working week is just a thing to be gotten through to get to the weekend.

Well. There comes a time in life when that formula gets reversed and you find yourself longing for your quiet, restful workday. Don't get me wrong, I work hard. It's just that life with growing children gets mighty hectic, no more so than at this time of year when the school year is winding down and the band, choir, and dance classes have end-of-semester performances to get through.

Let me outline our weekend for you.

Friday Night.
The school's dance classes held their spring dance performance. Karen and the girls stayed down at the school and I stopped by home to pick up my mother- and father-in-law. They had come into town that morning for a wedding in Ocean City on Saturday. The performance was wonderful. I got to see my little girl, becoming my grown-up daughter, dance on point and dance very well.

Saturday.
We start with the neighborhood yard sale. We had not planned to take part, but I couldn't help putting out a few large things that I'd like to get rid of. Only a few people stopped by, leaked from the neighbor's garage, which overflowed with stuff. Several folks seemed insulted that we had so little out. One guy needed a broken down rusty bike, though, so I made a few bucks.

Saturday evening, Baba and Grandpa headed down to Ocean City for the wedding of an old friend's kid. Karen and I went to Ocean View for the retirement party of the principal of the girls' school, the Southern Delaware School of the Arts, where Karen also works. Great fun, good food, nice people, and a heartfelt send-off for a guy that folks seemed genuinely happy to work for. But it was a late night.

Sunday.
Karen was due to play a flute part at church. I was due to mow the lawn. There was also a teen to drag out of bed and set to studying.

Once up and studied, Colleen was headed to see the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with several friends who had all read the book. I got to drive the group to the theater.

After I dropped that group off, Karen, Christina and I headed down into Rehoboth Beach for Christina's Ninth Birthday Party (two months late) at the Wacky Bear Factory. She and several friends made teddy bears (below), ate ice cream sundaes, and played games for several hours.



After two hours of fun, we headed home again to gather up Colleen (since dropped back home by one of the other parents) to get ready for her performance as part of Roadshow; the show band of the Southern Delaware School of the Arts. They were due to play at dusk at the Bethany Beach bandstand.

We loaded up an electric bass and headed out again. The Roadshow performance was fun; 5th though 8th graders playing a big-band style mix of hits from the fifties, sixties and seventies. Colleen is a very talented bassist. There are other very good players in the group and their shows are fun.

But we were not back home until about 9:30 p.m.

I'm headed to bed. And I'm looking forward to a quiet workday tomorrow. Of course, this week also holds another band concert Monday night, Honors Society Tuesday night, Dance Recital rehearsals Thursday and Friday nights, and the recital itself on Saturday.

A Dad's work (driving and waiting) is never done.