Friday

Starting this Friday, we are officially going to be getting paid a regular paycheck for the entire summer. For the first time since the professor finished grad school. Let us break out the Hallelujah chorus.
There were those many summers of being in school and being broke, but those don't count because everyone is broke all year long when they're in school. Except for, of course, during financial aid distribution day, which happened twice a year. Those were good days.
Then after graduation and getting a real job teaching, we were on a nine month pay schedule. Which was great for nine months, and absolutely sucky for three. Whose idea was it to not pay people for three months out of the year? Like bills would just stop coming, we wouldn't have to eat those months? Perhaps it was assumed we would save a percentage of the paycheck in anticipation of the summer. Sure that looks good on paper, but realistic, not so much.
We switched over to the twelve month pay schedule after a while, which just meant a very large check, with a huge amount of taxes taken out, at the beginning of the summer. It was like a game to see if we could actually make it last to July. August? Yeah right.
Am I telling you this to make you feel sorry for teachers everywhere? Sort of. (If you know a teacher, send them a grocery store or gas gift card in August, they'll be forever grateful.) But mainly it's because I'm celebrating the end of an era.
Last year was the first that we could sign up for real year round pay. The same paycheck would be coming every two weeks, 26 times a year. Sweet.
Friday will be the first time this will really affect us.
Usually there would be no paycheck on Friday.
Not this Friday.
I love you Friday.