Friday nights

Friday nights were all about Mario Party.
Ang & Michael would get off work at 8:30 and bring their dinner to our apartment.
We would play until after midnight without a care in the world, always having the time of our lives.
The game was never the same twice but the one constant was Valerie falling asleep with the controller in her hand.

When we moved out of the apartment and into our house, the atmosphere stayed the same and Friday nights lived on.
As the months went by 8:30 became 6:30 and we started to have dinner together.
I would try to make something new or special every week and that is when I truly developed my love for cooking and cooking for others.
We no longer had to ask Ang & Michael if they were coming over on Friday, they just started asking us what was for dinner.

Valerie was pregnant in 2005, and she stopped playing Mario Party with us on Friday nights.
She could no longer stay up that late, so we had to replace her by playing with one computer player that we called "the droid."
Our one goal was not to let the computer player win, it didn't matter who won, as long as it wasn't the droid.
After Ari was born, things really didn't change too much, we just had to keep our voices down a little when we played.

Now that we have Ari, Piper and Emilie in the mix, we rarely play Mario Party anymore.
We continue to get together every Friday and still make new and exciting dinners and desserts.
Eva & Daniel have been coming over on Friday nights when they are in town, and sometimes Katie too.
Having them with us make the evenings we spend together even more special because of all the memories we share.

What started as just getting together to play a simple video game has turned into so much more.
Friday nights are about good food, good conversation, and family and friends creating memories together.
Even after all these years, I am genuinely disappointed when something causes us to miss a night.
I can honestly say that there is no other way I would want to spend an evening.