In honor of the late, great Gilbert P., and Powder, ignominiously introduced to the world as “Princess Chunk.”

We’re once again at Friday, and I’m reminded of a Garfield-the-cat pin I had as a kid that read “I live for weekends.”

I understood the concept — it just never applied to me. I loved school, I loved my weekly dance lessons, and my best friends were cousins that lived next door and I saw them every day. By the time I was really settled in California, weekends meant band reviews or guard shows. Which were great, but still pretty much an extension of school.

Which I still loved.

Raised with a grossly Puritanical work ethic, I’ve also generally loved my jobs as an adult. Regardless of how I begin a job, I eventually find myself in a problem-solving role that I enjoy. So as much fun as I may have on weekends, I have a fair amount during the week. And when or where I don’t…well, that’s why Gore created the internets.

Oh… There was that unfortunate period of my life during which there was no week — only extended weekends with little difference in bedtimes or behavior. We lovingly call that The Dumb Year, and we patted its head and put it to bed a long time ago. (We? What, you think I did that by myself?)

This year, more than before, I’ve begun to realize the true appeal of weekends. There’s so much going on that it is nice to step back and take a mini-vacation from work stress and the commuter bullshit that puts knots in my neck. I can play on my computer, but I don’t have to. I can knit or sew, but I don’t have to. I can shop for this or that at stores or sales, but I…

Ahhh. There it is. I don’t have to.

The beauty of the weekend is to have time unclaimed…time that belongs to us as individuals. I tend to need a fair amount of alone time and I enjoy the silence of my home and a lazy afternoon nap. I also enjoy the company of fascinating and hilarious friends, and though I can see most of them during the week, we likely don’t get the best of each other until we’ve left another work week behind.

How do you balance the use of this time if you’re not single and child-free? Beats me. Based on my experience, I think the key is Not Being Single with someone whose company is more interesting and rewarding to you than your own. I imagine it cuts down on the number of discussions about “your” time and “our” time, especially the ones that involve one person telling the other exactly what he or she should do with their time or what must be accomplished between the hours of X and Y.

Because really, who needs that? Doesn’t that sound more like the work week than the weekend?

I think so, too.