broken plans (lyn)

It’s a cloudy day.  Snow teasingly falls but doesn’t stick. I get my hair colored and blown out. 

My plans for the evening are simple ones:  dinner with Alexander and Episode Four of HOMELAND, and then at 8, Arlen and Robyn are coming over to watch THIS IS 40. 

After getting my hair-colored, I pick up dinner for Alexander and me. Shortly after coming home, a couple of Alexander’s friends come over and they watch SKYFALL, the new James Bond movie.   I go off to my bedroom so the boys can own the living room.  They must be hungry because I hear them ordering in Chinese food.

Around 6:45, and while I’m on the phone, Alexander comes into my bedroom and announces that he is going out with his friends but he’ll be home “by 7, 7:30.”   I am only half-listening, as I am on the phone —a prop that is invisible to my son.

I walk into the kitchen and a scary site awaits me.  The dishwasher is full and my sink is overflowing with dirty dishes.  Alexander’s clothes are strewn around his room, and empty glasses sit in the living room.  I realize the time and know that Arlen and Robyn will be over soon, so I call Alexander (upset at the way he left things) and tell him he needn’t bother coming home for dinner, as I need to eat now.  I think he’s relieved.  Dinner with his friends is a more appealing prospect.  I clean the kitchen, the living room, and heat up dinner, even though I’m not hungry and would prefer to eat later.

I sit down to eat at 7:15, and the phone rings.  It’s Robyn.  She and Arlen won’t be coming over as Arlen had foot surgery only yesterday and the wet pavement tonight is too risky for someone new to crutches.

I end up watching neither Homeland with Alexander, nor a movie with friends. I eat dinner alone and read a chick-lit book, .  What a waste— and my hair looked so good.