Friday Challenge

Thank GOD, it's Friday!

Friday, the most-awaited, attention-getting day of the week.  The mark to make, the target to hit, the focus of Monday through Thursday, Friday represents respite from the daily grind.  Who doesn't love Fridays?  I'm sure someone out there has a few bones to pick, depending on work schedules and obligations that fall on Fridays.
Mainly, our culture has a starry view of the last day of the traditional working week.  We love it!

Today, December 13, 2012, do something for yourself.  Plan some activities for your weekend that do not involve social obligations or extended family.  Find time for you and yours to have fun, sit back and relax, and share some time that you don't feel  pressured to share.

Give!  Give your time, your attention, your devotion, your love and your thoughts to your husband and children.  Splurge on them.  Enjoy them and discover something new about each one of them.

Look at your children and really see them -- how they have changed to look more like you or your husband in recent weeks.  What traits do they share with you?  With him?  Do they share skills with you?  What about them do you admire and wish you had, yourself?

View your husband through eyes of love.  See him the way you see yourself -- needing some "down time" to decompress from the stress of the week.  See him struggling to keep his cool when everything doesn't move along in the right direction every minute.  Touch him on the arm, hug him, whisper loving words to him at those difficult times, and just because.

Uh-huh.  With Christmas coming in twelve days?  Are you crazy?

No.  I do know that refocusing by using the suggestions in the paragraphs above has changed my outlook from one of crazy-busy and unfocused, to one of a much more calm, purpose-driven woman. I see where the bear lies in the buckwheat, and I'm getting better at disarming him, not allowing those surprise attacks of fear of losing control (of everyone else); not feeling that harmony will exist only if I orchestrate it.

When my son, the attention seeker, asks to play a game with me later, I will accept his invitation.  He will smile a smile I recognize as, "She likes me!  She wants to do something with me!"  He will live up to his own, child-sized expectations and show more maturity for a while, all because I spend 20 minutes racing him around the "Sorry!" game board.

When my daughter asks about baking cupcakes for her Sunday School class, I will say, "Yes!"  She will immediately get to work, a lot surprised by my quick answer, and eager to get moving in case I change my mind.  She will hum along, asking a few questions about location of ingredients and then want my approval on her design idea in decorating her creation.  She will behave in a more adult way than I usually witness as she comes down from a week of dealing with peers who don't fit her social or personal schemata.  She will try to live up to me and her dad -- to step into the adult realm for a while, and practice.

When my husband asks for me to "come see this!" on television, or asks that I give him some space to just do nothing, I will.  He will appreciate my willingness to comply, which I will know because he will thank me.  It's something he treasures -- to be heard and understood, and for me to be his buddy.  With no hockey season so far this year, I find fewer calls to "come see this!", but those days will arrive again, and I'll be on my toes.

Small things, all of these.  Who wouldn't commit to any of them?  Who can't spare that second or those several minutes strung together to bind herself to the ones she loves?

Do yourself -- and your family -- a favor.  Turn off the cell phone, put the computer to sleep, and decide where you'll share your time with good purpose that will offer great dividends.

ENJOY your weekend!