Thursday

(Just a little heads-up.  This one’s a real snoozer; I’m just putting it here for family momories’ sake.  Feel free to peek, but don’t expect a lesson, a moral, a surprise ending.  It really is about a day of the week, nothing more.)

I know it’s supposed to be TGIF, but for as long as I can remember my favorite day of the week has been Thursday.  Trust me to be nerdy even when it comes to liking the wrong day of the week.  As always, there’s a story.  Reasons.

Remember back to the old days when we watched tv starting at like 7 or 8 into the evening?  We only had one tv, so we huddled around it as a family—a lot like those 50s shows.  Monday nights we had Little House on the Prairie.  Earlier in my life we had The Waltons.  At some point in my young life The Donny and Marie Show was on.  And The Wonder Years. But my favorite line-up was Thursday: Family Ties and The Cosby Show.  And then (I will admit this but not advocate it) 90210 later in high school and into my freshman year of college.  Those shows were constants in our little family, back when you could and would watch night tv as a family.  Just so happened that Thursdays’ choices were my favorites.

Back in elementary school we had a tradition of going to Gemco after my mom got home from working at the bank.  Who goes grocery shopping on a Thursday evening as a family?  I remember buying milk in those half-gallon paperboard cartons that we still buy half-and-half in.  We’d buy like six or eight.  We’d buy the round container of ice cream.  My dad would slice through it with a knife and give us all a cross-section.  It only lasted for a couple of days.  Beyond chocolate and vanilla, choices were limited to Neopolitan, chocolate chip or sometimes mint chip.  We’d also sometimes buy Eggo Waffles.  My little kids have no idea what those are.  But those treats stand out because otherwise we had boring brownish cereals like Cheerios and Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies.  And ingredients.  Not really good snack food.  So Thursdays we got spoiled, what with it being ice cream day and a night out.

Gemco was one of the first stores I remember noticing little departments, like a Super Walmart today.  Back then one of my favorites was the music department.  I guess in that way I was a normal kid.  Kind of how kids browse itunes these days purchasing individual tracks, I would rifle through the 45s (records, I know) and select one maybe every other week or so, a single song—with an additional less-popular one on the back, usually just an instrumental version.  That and a Reese’s peanut butter cup.  And a little stroll through the office supply aisle.  Really, now that you know me, what could be more fun for young Caren?

We would guess how much the total would be.  I remember it was usually around $100 a week.  One time I remember it was $138.  This was back in the 80s.  I don’t know why I have such useless bits like that floating around still when I could use that brain space for names or places in the world.  I guess I wonder what that would be in today’s dollars.  Was that a lot?

Gemco offered an unusual benefit called “pick-up service.”  If you accepted it, you’d be handed a plastic number to match an identical one attached to your cart.  Kind of like a coat check in a fancy restaurant.  We sometimes needed two numbers/carts.  They’d wheel the carts out behind the store and wait for you to drive around later and get your groceries.  Ingenious.  I wonder whatever became of it.  Sometimes we’d get all the way home before realizing we’d forgotten to “pick up” our groceries.

Eventually we’d make our way upstairs with the groceries and settle down in front of the tv.  Dad’s job was to make us BLTs with gobs of mayo on sourdough bread.  So traditional we didn’t even question it, just like pizza on Fridays.  Contented sighs.  We’d made it through the important part, the hardest part, of the week.  We could relax.  We were almost done.  Time to celebrate and bask in Friday-eve bliss.  Those were good times.  Simple times.

Unexpectedly Thursdays continued to be a favorite in college.  As a freshman I had just one class from 7-8 a.m. on Fridays, so essentially my weekend continued to start a day early.  At one point my sister and I started a tradition of going to my aunt’s house every Thursday night for dinner.  We’d go to our cousin’s soccer games and then just end up at the house.  I feel so bad now because we just assumed it would be fine, but she was so sweet and gracious.  We had tacos or pasta.  I don’t know.  We stayed late and just hung out with the cousins and sisters.  Loved our family time.  We did that until Todd and I moved away with our own little baby.

Through the years I’ve continued to be partial to Thursdays, I think because we’re over the hump.  I like Fridays as much as anyone else, but it’s kind of like going on trip: sometimes the anticipation is just as good as the reality.  Fridays were a little more relaxed in elementary school it seemed.  Teachers handed back our papers from the week.  Maybe there’d be time for art.  Games.  Just a little exhale knowing that we didn’t have to really be that serious.  So that was worth anticipating.  But as far as home life, not that much happened on Fridays that didn’t happen on other days.  Pizza, I guess.  But my mom worked late every other Friday, and I hated that.  Eventually when I took over the laundry as an older elementary school kid we’d have to go to the laundry mat on Friday nights, so I didn’t love that.  Thursdays were much better.

Ever since my kids have been in school all day it’s the day I get to go to the temple and meet Todd for lunch.  It’s so etched in our minds that I hardly think about it, definitely don’t have to look at the calendar to see what’s happening; it’s just assumed.  It kind of throws us off if he has too many surgeries and can’t get away during our usual time.   It’s fine, just not the same, when we switch things around and meet a different day.  Just feels better ending the week and anticipating a whole weekend together when we get together on Thursday.

Pretty sure everyone’s day of choice is Friday.  But that’s so conventional.  And sometimes more work than a Thursday.  We don’t usually have people over for dinner on Thursday nights; it’s just us, our intimate family’s start to the weekend.  A lot of times it’s our clean-out-the-fridge night, so I don’t even have to cook—happy day!  Fridays we sometimes make plans; the kids have places to be, expectations, there’s work involved in making things happen.  But not on Thursday.  If you stay up late Thursday night, it’s really not that big of a deal.  You just have to make it through Friday and you’re home free.  Maybe try it out.  Start anticipating the weekend a little earlier.  Maybe Thursday will become your favorite day too.

Told you.