Friday Cliffhanger

On a soap opera, Friday is a cliffhanger day--much anticipated, because you know that some huge piece of story will happen, but ever so slightly unsatisfying, because, as the name suggests, you are left hanging until Monday.
 
I thought a lot about soap opera Fridays today. In my life, there is this race through the week--the imperative to accomplish enough each day, to sleep enough each night to make it through each day, to make sure my kids complete their assignments on time, and to mind the structures that get us all where we need to go. Sometimes it feels like a 50 yard dash toward Friday (sometimes a marathon). Sometimes the days feel mundane (kind of like the traditional. "nothing happens on a Wednesday on a soap"), yet taken together, they form a path toward Friday.

More often than not, however, the Friday that felt like a finish line all week turns out to be more like a cliffhanger. Will weekend plans come together? Should I sleep to ensure energy for the weekend, or stay up late because it's the weekend and I can? Will the weekend chores get done by Monday, and will Monday's return to work and school come with resolutions to things left up in the air on Friday? As on a soap, in life, you are often left with a Friday cliffhanger, and you can view it as exciting (I suppose there's adrenalin in the unknown) or as frustrating (why do you have to wait for two days to get answers?)
 
Both on a soap and in life, Friday becomes a break of sorts, a time to pause, and to take a breath to gear up for the next piece of your story. Monday may bring surprise story twists or unexpected resolution. But for now, while you're hanging on the side of that cliff, you might as well hold on tight and just enjoy the view.