A Letter to Friday

Dear Friday,

Hello! How are you? I get the feeling that while most people have a deep appreciation for Friday, they also take you for granted, so I thought that I would make sure you know just how much we love you. After all, all days were not created equal. Different days have different importance, based on their place in the order of the week. I am sure Monday really wishes he could change places with you, because Monday has enough trouble of its own. But then I bet Tuesday would like to change as well. He so often either lives in Monday’s shadow or is completely forgotten (except when tacos are involved), and he might like a higher profile role. But I am sure that you don’t have any plans to give up your plum spot, so it doesn’t really matter what those other guys want.

Of course, I would like to know how you guys got in the order that you now have in the first place. Did you draw straws and then get to choose? Or was it done with one of those ping-pong ball cages like the lottery people use? Not that it really matters any, I suppose.

I was also wondering if you all are related, since you do all have the same last name of Day. If so, how cool! Hopefully you all get along well by having all your family close like that. And if not, what a coincidence that all seven of you have the same last name! Who would have thought?

Unfortunately, not every Friday is full of good things, but you probably already know that. Last Friday, for example, we had a slightly rocky moment that looked to put a damper on things. Jaylin was off at the opposite end of the state on a band trip, so Laura and I were enjoying a nice quiet evening, eating at one of our favorite restaurants. Once we were full and refreshed, we went out to the car to leave, except that we could not go anywhere. The car would not start. No problem, I thought, it sounds like it is the battery, so I can get it started with the jump starting box that I happened to have in the trunk. But it still would not even turn over. Bummer. Not necessarily how you plan to spend a Friday night.

I made a call to my Dad, who said he would start that way to see if he could help. The only problem there was that he was about 30 minutes away, thanks to the fact that we choose to live out in the middle of nowhere. Not giving up yet, I tried the jump starting box again, this time hooking the negative cable to the negative battery terminal, which they always say not to do. That did the trick, and the car started right up. So I made another call to my Dad to save him a needless long drive.

Fortunately, there was a car parts store right across the street from our favorite restaurant, so we drove over there. One of the two employees mentioned something about them closing soon (it was 8:00 and they closed at 9:00, so he had an interesting definition of soon), but he came out anyway and tested the battery. Sure enough, his testing device thing said that the battery was bad and should be replaced. They just happened to have one in the right size there, and he offered to put it in for us. As you may know (or may not know - do you days even drive?), there is usually something in these newer cars to hold the battery down, and the screw on our car had started to rust. That took some effort to get loose, but he eventually got it. I was thinking at that point that it might have been better for us to jump start the car again and change the battery at home ourselves, but he did get it changed. Best of all, he got it changed before the rain returned, so that we did not have to get wet. And I guess also best of all, the car started just fine with the new battery. So the problem was solved.

That wasn’t really how we had planned to spend our child-free Friday evening, but it all turned out okay. And now I suppose we don’t have to worry about the battery in that going out any time soon. So Friday was redeemed, and we went home and enjoyed the rest of the evening on the couch listening to it rain. Fortunately, we had gone ahead and fed the horses for the night when we got home with our new battery, so that we didn’t have to go out in that rain to take care of them.

I find it always interesting how you seem to work things out like that, Friday. Could you please teach some of the other days a lesson? Saturday and Sunday seem to have their act together, but some of those other guys could use a helping hand. Maybe you want to help them out just enough that they improve their standing but not enough that they bump you from the favorite spot, and I can understand that. But since they have some room for improvement, any little thing you throw their way could surely help, right?

Anyway, thanks for being you and for knowing how to dodge bullets like that. Just don’t tell the other guys that I wrote, or they will be expecting letters, too. And I might not have as many nice things to say to them.

Love,

Steve

P.S. If you and the 13th could make up and be friends, that would be even better.