One of my favorite shows is "Dr. Who." I love the idea of being able to pop back and forth in time...to have that freedom to be able to go wherever whimsy (and the Doctor) want to take me. Truth be told though, I probably don't even need a time lord to find myself wandering through universes and time. As a writer, I find myself constantly existing on two different planes of existence. There is the "Reality Universe" where most of my fellow travelers reside and then there is the "Dee Universe" where I am usually in the midst of creating a story in my mind OR caught up as an actor in an adventure or scenario. I suspect I'm not alone in this and that many other creative people do the same.
This week, I was excited to prepare for a 3-day scrapbooking retreat coming up on the weekend. I had gathered all of my scrapbooking supplies and packed them into my carrier. I unhooked my laptop and had that packed away and ready to go. My suitcase was in the car.
Thursday evening I baked four dozen cookies to take with me. Everyone who attends this retreat always brings some type of snack so that we have plenty of goodies to nosh on when we're working into the wee hours of the night/morning.
I packed up the car and set off Friday afternoon for the retreat. I was supposed to be meeting up with my daughter at the hotel where the retreat would be held. While I was driving down there, I decided to stop at a grocery store and pick up a few more items to snack on. In a rare moment of generosity (clarity?), I decided to call Laura to see if she wanted me to pick up anything for her.
"Hi, Honey. I'm on my way. Do you want me to pick up anything for you?" I asked.
"Why," she asked.
"For the retreat," I answered.
"Oh, my gosh," she gasped. "That's not THIS weekend, is it? I thought it was NEXT weekend. It better not be this weekend. I don't have any of my pictures ready or anything."
"Uh.....let me check my email and I'll call you right back," I replied.
I checked through my old emails and sure enough, I was a week early. Oh, for Pete's sake. If I hadn't called my daughter, I would have driven 45 minutes down the road to the hotel and waltzed into the lobby with my bags, looking like an idiot. I called her back and we had a good laugh.
I decided to swing by Wendy's and get some pop for the drive back to the house. I ordered my cola, drove up to the pick-up window, and paid the attendant. The young man took my money, handed me my drink, and shut the window. Ummm, where was the straw? I waved at the fellow. He looked at me and finally opened the window.
"Where is the straw," I asked him.
"It will be in the bag," he answered, and he shut the window.
I waved at him and he looked at me again. Finally he opened the window.
"I didn't order any food," I explained.
"Whoops, sorry about that," he said, as he handed me a straw. He shut the window.
I waved at him again. He looked at me and opened the window.
"How much was the drink?," I asked him.
"$1.90," he told me.
"I gave you $2.00," I said.
"Oh, for goodness sakes," he laughed. "I'd better get my head in gear." He handed me my change and shut the window.
This time I drove away. It felt good to know that someone else was not quite "with it" either. I wasn't going to tell him, though, that I had skipped ahead a whole week. Let's just keep that between you and me, shall we?
1 comment:
That's hilarious! (Both your mistake and the 'Wendy's attendant')
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