Every Day Is Friday – A Meditation On This Labor Day Week-end

When I was a young man in my 20’s hanging out in Spain and Morocco, smoking lots of kief, and hash, not wearing a watch, and in general, just being a wonderful bum, whenever someone in the group would finally look up, look around, and ask “what day is it?”, and we checked a newspaper – or whatever – to see what day in fact it was, it seemed that invariably it was Friday. So we coined an expression that summed up the happy-go-lucky-seat-of-our-pants way we were living and that expression was “every day is Friday.”

To us then, and to me now, Friday was, and is, the day that represents a youthful kind of untroubled, unburdened freedom. It was, and is, the day that besides signifying that the work of the week would soon be over, stands at the precipice of the week-end and holds out the promise of great things. It is the day of great expectations. Yes, I know we weren’t working at anything at the time except getting a nice tan, hanging out, having an adventure, or getting laid – and any of that only after getting a nice buzz on.

We would score the kief from the Gypsies on the wooded hillside overlooking Malaga’s bullring. And in Tangiers, it was hash scored at Achmed’s bazaar in the medina just down from where we stayed at Sidi Bouknadel. “Every day is Friday” so perfectly described our lifestyle. One where cares were always far, far behind us, and the future, the week – end, which was rife with possibilities, was always in sight – just right there on the horizon – no matter what day it might have been. And to this very day I have lived life with the feeling that every day is Friday.

I must say here that I realize that this may seem a slacker kind of existence, but to me the term “slacker” seems to connote a sort of hopelessness, an aimless joyless existence. We felt the very opposite…we were filled with hopes, dreams, and a surfeit of joy – and to this very day, Friday, September 2nd 2016 – I still am. (And I have a huge smile on my face as I write this.)

Like some of you reading this, I am seldom aware of what date it is, and, in my case, I have to look at a newspaper, or my TiVo list, or my cell phone, to find that information. Today, and only owing to the news this morning on MSNBC, I am now aware that this Friday is the 71st anniversary of Japan’s signing their unconditional surrender in WW II on the battleship Missouri. An event I actually remember as a seven year old.

I am also usually blissfully unaware of the “big” dates in the year; Memorial Day, Labor Day, Christmas eve, etc. until they are right upon me, or a friend informs me of same, or the newspaper or TV clues me in. To me it all seems like another day. Like another Friday. The same goes for New Year’s Eve…except I always know that it’s approaching because of all the Christmas hoo hah, and so there’s no way to escape the knowledge of New Year’s Eve’s approach.

I am very aware that I am a very fortunate person to be this way, and not just because I think every day is Friday, but because I also feel this way deep in the marrow within my bones, and I am very aware that I have been fortunate in my life to have lucked out and written a few song “hits” that have made it possible for me to seriously have this mindset and indulge in this lifestyle. I am by no stretch wealthy, in point of fact, I am very far from wealthy, but I am rich – very, very, rich. And I attribute much of my “richness” to this mindset of “every day is Friday.”  And I am not sure whether I chose this mindset or it chose me.

I have been a creative person my entire life, first as a songwriter, then a singer/songwriter, then an actor, then a video artist, and these days a writer of prose. Doing what I love has made me a very happy person. On the few occasions in my life when I had to take jobs that weren’t at all enjoyable, I took them, got on with it, and after they helped get me by, I left them. So I know what it feels like to have to do something you don’t particularly enjoy doing in order to pay the bills.

In any case, I am writing this piece because when I woke up today, or rather, when I decided to get my ass out of bed at the crack of eleven, (why not? I don’t go to sleep until 2 or 3), I wondered for a second if it was Thursday or Friday, and upon realizing that it was Friday, said out loud “every day is Friday”…laughed heartily, and took myself straight to my laptop and began writing. And now, after having had the process happily interrupted by a lovely mid-day brunch, I am back finishing same.

I had no idea when I began this piece this morning that instead of a cynical piece on Trump in Detroit – and an entire summer of Trump-inspired extremely angry and somewhat vitriolic pieces – I would write something with a more uplifting, positive note. But that’s what seems has happened here, and that’s what I so love about writing, and creating in general…you never know where it’s going to take you if you’re willing to follow it – at least, I don’t.

I will digress here for a second to say that if you are lucky enough to have children who show a creative bent, a real hunger to create, be it as actor, musician, dancer, designer, writer, sculptor, chef, painter, or if you have a child who yearns to be a nurse, or doctor, or plumber, or welder, or carpenter – whatever, I urge you to support, nurture, and encourage their talents and desires – their love for something that they will enjoy doing – for in that path lies the possibility for true happiness beyond wealth and, as I’ve always said, it beats working.

I want to thank all of you who have read, and commented on my writings, and wish all of you, and your families, a healthy, calm, peaceful, creative, happy, food-filled Labor Day 2016.

© tony powers and Barking in the Dark, 2011, revised 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to tony powers and Barking in the Dark with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Filed under: Random Thoughts, writing Tagged: carefree, freedom, Morocco, Spain, state of mind, youth Barking in the Dark is run by Tony Powers, a writer/actor/musician.