Its FRIDAY!!!

Its Friday!! Time to let go, to let loose, let it all hang out. Time to hit the beach, hit the clubs, hit the bars, hit a movie. Time to go looking for girls, looking for trouble, looking for adventure. Time for pool parties, beer parties, wild parties. Time to take a woman on a date, take a vacation from life, take the bikes into the hills. Time for a trip to Vegas, a trip to the ocean, a trip to the mountains.
----REALITY CHECK----
Time to spend time with my daughter, look at the bills, clean the house, go shopping. Time to get the car serviced, do a weeks worth of accumulated laundry, pick up the yard and mow the grass. Time to fix whats been broken during the week, get the stains out of the carpet, change the kitty litter box, clean the fish tank. If I am real lucky, I will be able to take my daughter to the park, to a movie, or squeeze in a barbecue.
This is the reality of a single parent. I wouldn't have it any other way...but sometimes memories of a different life intrude nostalgically on my thoughts. I began to remember my past life and I start the envy the man I used to be. I have to check myself, and REALLY remember. Remember waking up next to a stranger I had no recollection of ever meeting, worshiping at the alter of the porcelain god as I heave my guts out, spending all my money on a night of absolute mayhem, broken ribs, black eyes, broken knuckles. Running from the police, wrecked cars, crying women and angry men. Wondering if I actually used protection, going to the doctor in fear and near panic when I didn't. Waking up in a house that was filled with strangers, the smell of stale beer and vomit. Making really stupid comments through a mental haze trying to impress people I would never associate with when sober. Wondering where all the money went. Spending a small fortune of alcohol that was consumed mostly by others. Not knowing what town I was in when I woke up. Yup...the glory days.
All in all...I am living in the glory days now. I will listen to my friends describe the 'wild' time they had over the weekend as they pop their fifth advil. I will nod and laugh at the appropriate places...but I will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I spent a glorious weekend in the bosom of my family, with my daughter. That I took a few pictures, listened and was amazed by her observations, her perception, her comments, and her love. She held my hand as we went shopping. She helped me pick out the groceries. She followed me around with her own little vacuum, convinced she was doing just as much work as I. She learned how to do a cannonball in the pool and how to swim underwater. She picked out her own cereal and expounded, in great detail, on the merits of fruit loops. She helped me wax my car and did an outstanding job of waxing the passenger side windows when I wasn't looking. At her request we went to the dollar store and purchased 20 dollars worth of cheap play jewelry which she proceeded to put on our long suffering puppy when we got back to the house. She picked ALL the flowers off the rose bushes for me. She got stung by a bee and didn't cry, but did cry when I foolishly explained to her that the bee would die. We chased down the ice cream truck together. She made me a fathers day card at church that is proudly displayed on my wall next to the rest of her 'modern art'. All this happened last weekend.
I cannot wait to see what will happen this weekend.