Thursday Nights

We have been doing Thursday Nights for more than three years...maybe four? I don't remember when it started exactly, but it was before I was pregnant with Will. Sarah and I used to get together when the guys were playing darts and go to the gym and then go back to my house to watch The O.C. Then we would meet up with the guys at the bar and drink too much Hair of the Dog Fred. We were the Dart Widows.

When I was pregnant we kept the gym part up for a little while (not that long though in all honesty) and even the meeting up with guys part (again, not for that long and there was no more Fred). Somewhere early on in there Andrew started playing darts and Kari started joining us. After Will was born Sarah and Kari still came every Thursday and cheered me on in those early scary days of being a new mother, and kept me from feeling isolated when leaving the baby with Dan and going out and meeting up with them at a bar seemed far too overwhelming. Thursday nights were my nights to always be home, but they didn’t have to. They have made it important to them for 2 1/2 years to forgo being out and about and be on my front patio instead.

Over time it became less and less about getting together to watch the OC and more and more about sitting outside (even in the winter) and having a few cigarettes and a few glasses of wine. It became less about talking about what was happening with Summer and Seth and more about sharing what was happening in our lives...our fears, our successes, our pain, our joys. Thursday nights have seen us through 3 Master's programs, multiple job changes, moves into our first homes, inexplicable sadness, innumerable joys, countless tears and endless laughter...and many, many bottles of wine.

We have had other people join us from time to time, which is always so nice. Recently, someone has been joining us who very quickly has become one of My People. I am so thankful for that and so bummed that this Thursday was her last Thursday before she leaves on her great adventure. I know I speak for the other two of us when I say congratulations on being done (DONE!) with your thesis and for defending it so successfully. We cannot wait to hear and read all about your upcoming journey, but we will miss you too.

These Thursday nights, they have been such a gift to me. I am still amazed sometimes that such wonderful women have let me collect them to my home, once a week, for so many years. Thank you.