Are you ready for the weekend? A little planning and a few simple practices can help you have a wonderful weekend, or inject a bit of weekend relaxation into the middle of a busy week. And so each Friday, for a while at least, Windows & Doors will include some help in that direction. I introduced this idea last week and include the intro to that post, about the power of buying flowers for a friend, again now.

It’s Friday and if you are like me, and lots of other people, you are already thinking about the weekend. Of course if you hate your job, then you’ve probably been doing that since last Monday, but that’s a whole other conversation. For now though, I want to begin what I hope will be a weekly part of this blog, one which shares a practice that brings a little joy and renewal to our lives, which is what the weekend should be about.
For me, these practices are connected to Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, but they are not only for Jews. They are for anyone who wants tools to help them celebrate their lives and the people in them. In fact, they are not restricted to any particular day of week either. I just think that each of them, if done once a week, will make your life better and happier.

For instance, try cooking with someone you love. Yes, that’s a double entendre, but for the purposes of this post, I mean it literally. And you don’t have to be “a cook” to do this. There is just something amazing about getting into the food with someone you love and producing something that you will share when it’s finished.

Originally, my wife and I would share this practice – opening a bottle of wine, turning on some music and spending an hour or two in the kitchen together. The fact that it was not only time for just us, but that it was time in which we made something together, made a huge difference. That is was something we then enjoyed together, was the best.
It really didn’t matter what it was, and the fact that we didn’t always agree about how to prepare the dish was actually a good thing. It reminded us that even when one of us felt that the other one wasn’t doing it right, the outcome could be one we both enjoyed. And most of us could always use a reminder about that. That it came by way of a chicken dish or a pasta sauce made it a bit easier to digest (sorry, but I couldn’t resist).

I confess that with three kids and an increasingly busy life, it’s rarer for me to share those intimate cooking moments with my wife, but the practice remains central to my weekend. Only now, I tend to get in the kitchen with my seven year old daughter, Adina. Together we make a long simmering stew (called cholent, in Yiddish) that cooks overnight on Friday and is served at Saturday lunch.
From the moment I come home, she excitedly asks when we are starting to cook. And, if I am not quick about it, she simply pulls a chair to the counter and stands there calling me to the cutting board — She is far bigger on enthusiasm than on patience, which I (usually) love.
Together we share a bond that brings us closer, helps her to see how she and I together can make a contribution to the entire family, and experience the first signal of a weekend in which we make time for each other. There is nothing like it. Try it and you’ll see.