Fridays

I love Fridays. I know one reason was back in the old days everybody got paid on Fridays. When Jilda and I were in our early twenties, we had parties EVERY Friday night. Our place was always a favorite destination. Even though we lived in a 12' x 65' house trailer at the time, I had a stereo that would blow the windows out and render you deaf if you sat with ears facing the speakers. I also had guitars, a great dog, and a wife that was/is a great cook.
Like us, most all our friends were broke and couldn't afford to go out to restaurants very often, but Jilda would whip up meals that even now make my mouth water just thinking about them. Everyone would stop on the way over and by wine and cheap beer and after eating like royalty, we'd sit around playing cards, Mancala, and Backgammon while listening to Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad, and Deep Purple.
We had a party one Friday night that became a weekend party. I had old Army buddies from Minnesota visiting and they pitched tents out in the back yard. About 10:30 on Friday night we heard the distinctive rumble of motor cycles. Another friend rolled up with about 25 couples on Harleys. The party spilled out in the yard and the only reason our neighbors didn't call the law was because they were at the party too. For weeks afterwards, we found weird things throughout the house. A record album we'd never seen before, whiskey bottles in the bath tub, a switchblade behind the cushion of the couch and women’s underwear (not Jilda's) in the clothes hamper...not sure what the story was there and was really afraid to pursue it.
Like the lyrics of one of the most beautiful rock songs ever written (Kansas), our friends have scattered like "Dust in the Wind." We still stay in touch, but we rarely have an opportunity to get together. Only a few of our gang are still married to their original spouses. But that's the way life goes.
So tonight, I can smell cornbread baking and sour krout with smoked sausage cooking on the stove. I've opened a bottle of wine (not the cheap stuff these days) and I just cranked up Jimi Hendrix on the stereo. Happy Friday night.