My Day

Today is Friday. I am at the Mall. I am at the Mall on Friday because Friday is my day. Or as I like to think of it: My Day. This has always been my little secret. Well, I guess it’s not a secret anymore because now you know. But there you have it. It is My Day.

My Day began about twenty-four years ago with the arrival of our first child. Since I was home all day - every day - with this little dumpling, life had taken on a rather predictable repetition. Like using shampoo. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Only with children it was: Bottle. Burp. Change. Repeat. So one day was pretty much like another. I began to feel a bit numb. One Friday, when our first child was three months old, I packed her up, went to the Mall and had a cup of coffee. It was lovely. So as a kind of therapy I developed My Day. I would save the things I liked to do (or least minded doing) for Friday. Sometimes if there was room in the budget, My Day included shopping for little luxuries. Like underwear that did not have small animal characters on it. Sometimes it was a trip to the home improvement store for a new flowerpot. Sometimes if the budget was a little tighter, My Day included a nice cup of tea in a cafe without a playground. The babies were always with me, of course. But it gave my week a kind of anchor to hold on to. Chances to stop for a moment, change the routine, and look around a little. It probably kept me sane.

As the years went on, I held on to My Day. I developed a loose set of guidelines. I never go to the gynecologist on My Day. Never. I allow myself to reschedule to a day other than Friday if necessary. I have often compressed My Day into one fleeting hour or so during particularly hectic weeks. I sometimes have lunch with dear friends on My Day. But only the dear ones. I save up the little errands and projects that give me pleasure, knowing that on My Day I will be able to throw myself into them with absolutely no guilt whatsoever since I have spent the rest of the week doing everything else. I still include my babies sometimes on My Day for lunch or shopping. Now that they are all grown up those days are the most precious of all. Sort of a passing of the My Day torch, which I hope they will carry on as well.

We all need a My Day.