Picking up where I left off last time . . . as I think I mentioned in my last post, we do have a party planned for Peyton this Saturday, but because she has spent so many years watching her birthday come and go while we hurry and scurry around to other activities that by necessity take precedence (like, say, the spring musical or 5th grade banquet), we decided to do a little something "extra" for Peyton on the 8th. (Oh, and if you're wondering why we didn't simply have her party on the 8th, well, that's another story in itself.)
The plan was to pick the kids up from school and go almost immediately to the restaurant of Peyton's choosing, and from there we would head to her favorite movie theater (the one that she's been to exactly one time) where we would catch Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. I was even pleasantly surprised to find that when given the choice between Game Night with the teens or dinner and a movie for Peyton's birthday, Tyler chose the latter. At least, until peer pressure got the best of him.
After I made my last pick-up at 3:30 and all the school kids were safely ensconced in the van, it started. "Mom, Hunter and Brennan really want me to come to Game Night. Couldn't I go for just an hour--pleeeeeaaaassssseeeee??!" Well, truth be told, I didn't see any reason why Tyler couldn't go for a little while; Randy and Sawyer were at the barbershop getting haircuts and I figured Tyler could pass the time just as easily at the youth minister's house as at ours. I spied Brennan's dad in the school parking lot so I thought, "Oh, this is gold! He can drive Tyler over to Jonathan's with Brennan!"
I wheeled over to Brennan's dad to find out if he could give Tyler a lift, but alas! Brennan had already gone ahead with Hunter. "But Tracy will be here any minute," Rick said. Does that confuse you as much as it confused me? For a split second I thought, "Is he offering to have HIS wife take MY son to Game Night just so I won't have to?" I was like, "Oh, no, I was just thinking if you were going to be going anyway . . . but it's no problem. I can drive him myself." "Well, Tracy should be here anytime." O-kay. Whatever.
Wanting to give Tyler as much time at Game Night as I could, I hightailed it out of the parking lot and--what do you know! As I was turning into oncoming traffic there was Tracy, turning into the parking lot and just smiling and waving to beat the band. We all smiled and waved back and went on our merry way. I deposited Tyler at Jonathan's and we finally straggled home when it hit me--the barbershop where Randy was getting his hair cut is right in Jonathan's neck of the woods, and it would save everybody a whole lot of trouble if he would pick Tyler up on his way home. So I texted him quickly and told him to call me BEFORE he drove away from the barbershop.
Less than a minute later my phone rang. "Hey babe, what's up?" I told him my plan and he said, "Well, we're just finishing up here--call Tyler and tell him we'll be there in less than fifteen minutes." Oh. So much for Game Night.
But let me back up a sec--when I flipped open my phone to text Randy, I noticed that I had THREE voicemails and one or two text messages waiting for me because I had left my cell phone charging at home when I went to pick up the kids. Turns out Tracy had a birthday cookie (one of those cute decorated ones on a stick) for Peyton at her house, but she had been in North Arlington that afternoon and was racing home to get it, so she had told Rick to let us know so we could sit tight until she got to the school. Meanwhile she was calling and texting me, and in retrospect we realized she wasn't smiling and waving "Hello!" but "Hey! Come back!!" It also turns out that when we didn't turn around and come back to the school (remember, my cell was at home), she drove to Jonathan's thinking she'd catch us there but NOOO! We'd already gotten home by then! Honestly, when I heard the voicemails and read the texts my heart dropped to my shoes. Of all days to forget my cell phone!
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