The weatherman said sun today, and he was mostly right. The sun has appeared every now and then with a cloudy blue sky as its backdrop. The wind and rain stayed around most of yesterday into last night, but I still went and filled the deck bird feeders out of a sense of guilt. I got wet. Warm weather is coming this weekend.

When I was a little kid, I never thought much about the week or even the day ahead. The only time I counted days was before Christmas. Life was in the present. Seldom did we ever make plans for the weekend or even the next day. It wasn’t until I was older, in high school, that the weekends took on importance. We made plans. Sometimes we went bowling or to a movie or even just hung around together. If the school had a Friday dance, we went. It was always, as most of them were, in the gym. Life was seldom complicated.

It seems all my life weekends have been the best part of the week. I got to sleep late, no alarm jarred me out of bed. Sometimes I had plans, especially when I was younger and still working. Friday nights we’d hit happy hour. Those were the days of free food with your drinks. Saturday I did my chores and went shopping, sometimes just for groceries or other times because I wanted to shop at fun stores and antique shops. It was my day, and I could do whatever I wanted. Sunday was change bed, do laundry, go to the dump, correct papers and prepare classes day. It was a warm-up for Monday.

When I was in Ghana, every day was a neat day, even the weekdays. I was always up early, never even needed an alarm. My world was always interesting. I’d sit on my porch before teaching and watch women carrying baskets on their heads as they walked to market and see small children going to school and stopping to say hello as they walked by my house. I’d watch lizards darting around and see chickens and goats wandering the school compound. Teaching too was a bit of an adventure. It was figuring out the best approach so my students could understand the intricacies of English grammar. Though I didn’t teach weekends, I lived on school grounds so I was always involved with school and my students often visited. I never minded the blurring of weekends and weekdays.

Since I’ve retired, I tell people every day is a Saturday. I can do whatever I want. Today I’m going to see a movie. Today I’m also going to the dump as I didn’t brave the elements yesterday. Weekends have lost their importance. Now Saturdays and Sundays are just days in the week like any other days. I’m happy.