Is It 5 O'Clock Friday?

The clock strikes 5 o’clock on Friday afternoon, and to any average 9 (or 8:30 a.m. in my case) to 5 worker, a feeling of relief overwhelms the body.

Anyone else have the feeling that five o’clock Friday to eight o’clock Monday morning comes and goes all too quickly? I do. The weekend is supposed to be your one unscheduled time of the week to do nothing, or nothing but fun things anyway, and that doesn’t even always seem like the case. Either way, it always goes by even quicker than the days that slowly lead up to it.

It seems like everyday is almost ritualistic the way that we wake up and go through our typical morning routine: Take Bentley outside, feed Bentley, shower, brush teeth, play with Bentley, grab something out of the pantry because there’s not enough time to eat breakfast unless it’s done in the car on the way to work, put on makeup, play with Bentley some more while attempting to put on mascara and getting it somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be, get dressed and most importantly, make it through the workday.

By the time 5 o’clock (or 6, or whenever everything for the day has been completed) rolls around, it’s time to head home for another routine that usually consists of walking Bentley, making dinner, doing dishes, and by the time that’s all said and done and you haven’t even had a chance to enjoy the evening just yet, it’s 9 o’clock. Where on earth does the time go?!

Am I the only one that feels this way?

I realize that it’s all about time management, which I had always liked to think that I was pretty good at, but being only a year out of college, it doesn’t seem quite as easy as it once was. A year ago, I had class two or three times a day with hours to spare in between to run errands, eat, hang out with friends, basically do whatever I wanted to do until the evening came around and I had obligations with my sorority and other campus organizations. My days actually generally went from about 8 o’clock in the morning to 1 o’clock in the morning. Now that’s a long day. Yet, I was still able to map out my entire day and get everything done that needed to be done. If I had a half hour break, I made sure I filled it with completing something other than watching TV. Only one year later, I’m lucky if I can stay up past 11 o’clock… which it is now, as a matter of fact, and my eyes are burning.

At the point that my fiancé and I are in with our lives, wedding planning, working on making our new place a home, working full time, and in an attempt to still have time for friends and family, (and my love for fitting reading and writing into the mix whenever possible, which is why I stay up past my bedtime many nights,) is it too much to ask for an added hour or two (or ten) in a day?

I now know exactly how my mom feels when I would come home from school everyday and automatically ask what was for dinner after she has been working and keeping up with the family and the house all day.

Come to think of it, I was still doing that even after college when I moved back home, up until the beginning of this year as a matter of fact when I finally took the plunge and moved out on my own.

Sorry Mom! I don’t even have kids to throw in the mix yet, and this is one good reason why. I simply am not ready. I did live on my own in college, but it was different. I lived with a big group of girls. My parents still gave me an allowance. My friends and I ate out or on campus (which I usually opted out on, yuck) just about everyday. I must say that as much as I did indeed love those days, I love these days even more. I’m learning a lot. I’m learning the reality of real life. But most importantly, I’m slowly but surely learning that there is simply not enough time in a day. Let’s work on this.