Unforeseen Circumstances

Every year I get all the Christmas decorations packed away and, a day or so later, find some little something I missed. Last year, it was the wreath on the door. This year it was this little guy that didn’t register until this morning.

It’s a candy dish, but I switch out the regular holder at Christmas with this Santa, and at Halloween with a spooky holder.

I have a feeling that if I pull the patio decorations out of storage for Christmas 2017, I’m going to find mold, mildew and rust, because it never got warm enough to dry everything out, so items were packed away damp. They were all outdoor decorations, but it had rained so often and so hard, that I saw rust forming on metal parts and whatever that fabric was on the drums needed some serious sunlight to dry out, which it didn’t get; also, I was so not careful pushing the three-tier tree into storage that the tiers became unhinged, which means the whatever controls the lights probably got disconnected and might not work next time.

Oh well, no biggie. I’m not even sure I’ll be in the Christmas Spirit end of year and if I am, I’ll toss out the old mold mildew rusted and bring in some new.

New neighbor’s furniture arrived today. She’s got good taste. Before I lost interest and went back to my needlepoint, I saw a Tiffany Lamp and ginormous flat screen appear.

Would you believe I did it again?

I rsvp’d “yes” to a party invitation when I know I don’t like parties and always immediately begin looking for a way out.

On the rare occasion I receive a party invitation, attending seems like such a good idea. Then I get to thinking … thinking about not fitting in because I don’t dance, except for line dancing, don’t drink, can’t eat most of what’s served, and usually don’t know anyone other than the host or hostess.

In this case, in attendance will be folks I worked with back in the 60’s, but I seriously doubt I’ll recognize or remember any of them. I never paid much attention to them in the first place and, unlike the friend who sent me the invite, haven’t stayed in touch with or thought about them over the years.

The hostess in this case is the woman I’ve been friends with for over 40 years -- this is the friend I’d blogged about in 2015 that invited me to a monthly luncheon she started up with those still living and retired from the group we worked with back-in-the-day.

Not sure if I mentioned, but she’d also called because an old male friend wanted to be put in contact with me – was asking for my telephone number.

I’d, of course, declined the monthly luncheon because I didn’t remember the others much and wasn’t interested in becoming reacquainted.

Same with the guy.

Though I’d been interested in becoming involved back in the day, we never got beyond the friend zone. Now, with so many years separating then from now, what could we possibly talk about? So no … tell him to add me as a Facebook friend, if he likes, but do not give him my telephone number.

The occasion this time is her husband’s 70^th Birthday, which actually sounded like it might be a good time until I began thinking about how I’d not fit in and don’t care to socialize on a party level.

So here I am again, wanting out of a commitment, except I was a little smarter this time in that I rsvp’d “Yes, barring unforeseen circumstances”, which gives me if not a door at least a window through which to escape.

Unforeseen circumstances can simply be my saying, “Sorry, but I won’t be driving down that way after all” with no further explanation -- except I’m not completely sure I don’t want to step out of my comfort zone and go.

I've already cancelled the hotel, but have not yet let my friend know I won’t be coming because every time I think about letting her know, my mind is like “Yes, No, Maybe, I Dunno”.

I can always re-book the hotel, even if it’s the day of.

I just need clarity as to a definite yes or no.