Of Friday Night Dance Parties and Saturday Morning Pancakes

Ah, the weekend!

A time of rest and fun, steeped in rich family traditions. Why are these times so important? Is it the food that most of the rituals revolve around, the family bonding that happens because of it, or the memories that will last a lifetime? In a town where "family" is rare, misunderstood or even forgotten about...

it's important for my family to have moments where we all come together.

Because life isn't easy. The constant ups and downs of projects moving forward or slowing down, the challenge of raising and providing for a growing family in one of the most expensive cities in the world, carrying the burdens of friends, late nights and early mornings, mean that sometimes the important things get forgotten about. But if you forget the most important things, you forget what matters most, and then what do you have?

So when the whole family is dancing like crazy monkeys in the living room to Hannah Montana's "Party in the USA" on Friday night with the blinds open for the whole world to see, it's a sign that we are leaving the week's problems at the door and stepping into something different.

Laughter rings loud, sun-kissed faces glow, and our hearts are full.

While this might not happen every weekend due to work (or, like this weekend, social) schedules, the point is that it is set in motion. We always fall back to it and work really hard to make sure that it is maintained.

Moments and memories. Because let's face it -- what's more important than dancing like crazy monkeys as a family?

I really can't think of anything else.