To me, Friday is the best day of the week. You would think that Saturday or Sunday would be better because those days=no work. But, there's something about the build up to the weekend that makes Friday so magical. That's one thing I like about working. In the summertime, Friday seems almost like any other day. During the school year, when the last school bell rings, as I'm scrambling to make the last minute touches on lesson plans, there is this feeling of anticipation; Thoughts of going out to dinner; Thoughts of staying up late (if you call 11:00 late) and sleeping in (if you call 7:00 sleeping in); Thoughts of breakfast at a more appropriate hour such as 9:00, instead of 6:00 am (I'm hungry for lunch by 10:30 during weekdays); Thoughts of no lesson plans, no making copies, no extremely long and drawn out meetings, no duties, no peace-making, no playground refereeing, no packing lunches, no rushing around (except on Sunday morning...that's always a mad rush), no eating lunch while grading papers. Ahhh, Friday. But maybe I'm a "half-empty" kind of person because I get up on Saturdays feeling like my weekend is already half-over! I guess that's the vicious cycle.

Last night Carl and I headed to Hector with my dad to watch the senior boys play in the District Tournament. I hadn't been to a basketball game in years, especially at my old alma mater. It was so strange to go back to my old high school. First off, Hector finally has a nice, new gym. For years and years, Hector has had this small, old, rickety gym while every other school around had new state of the art facilities. I can remember other teams making fun of how bad our gym was, locker rooms in particular. As we walked into the new gym, I immediately began seeing all the familiar "basketball" faces; People that have attended games for years and years. Die hard fans that never miss, still going. It was like taking a step back in time. But then reality hit. I began noticing all of these "kids" who were just young elementary students when I graduated. Now they were juniors and seniors. What happened? How could it be? Am I really that old? Has it really been that long? It's funny how as you get older, high school students begin looking so young to you. But, when you're the high schooler, you feel so grown-up, so mature. When in actuality, you are still very much a kid.

Last time I attended a Hector game (in 2002), I sat in the student section. I laughed with people whom I had been friends with since elementary school. I probably kept my eye out for cute boys. I probably even flirted a little. This time, 8 years and a job, a husband, and baby later,...I sat with the adults. I people watched, laughed and reminisced about old times,shared a coke with my husband, and yawned repeatedly (because these days 9:00 is late). I walked out of the gym with with my dad, as I've done a hundred times before. It was different, but fun. I can't wait until I'm one of the parents sitting in the bleachers cheering on my own child. Well, I guess I'm not ready to be that old yet and have a high schooler. But, it will only seem like a few years...