Didn't You Get My Email?

It's Saturday afternoon, positively gorgeous and sunny outside, and I am here blogging.

There is something seriously wrong with me.

If it weren't for the fact that I have not written anything here, yet again, in nearly two weeks, then I would SO be outside enjoying the weather. That's not entirely true. For one thing, I'm still in my jammies. My hair still resembles the shape of my pillow, and I'm a little on the cranky side. It's called being a girl. Sometimes? I really, really hate it.

I had a reasonably poor night's sleep last night - a shame, you know, because I could have really used a fabulous one. The girls were, indeed, away at gymnastics camp all of last week. Yesterday was the day they were to be fetched back, which required me to drive the eleven hour round trip to some part of New York that was decidedly NOT New York City, by myself there and (...well, obviously) with the Tornadoes back. I was a little girl-cranky yesterday as well, so it was more like a twelve hour ride when you factor in the stops. I only stopped once on the way there, at a Super Stop & Shop, to eat my packed lunch in the car and then to purchase the Advil that I desperately needed to make it the rest of the way. While I was eating my lunch, I had the honor of witnessing a very nasty exchange between a skunk-haired woman and a small child. They were accompanied by a blonde lady, who could possibly have been the boy's mother, and who chose to ignore the spew of horrible words that Miss Skunk Hair spat at the poor boy in the back seat of the car while she waited for him to get out. She also chose to ignore the fact that the boy eventually exited the car by being yanked by the arm by Miss Skunk Hair. These things did not, however, escape my notice. I spent some time contemplating how I might approach Miss Skunk Hair to tell her how inappropriately she was behaving, and also took note of the license plate number in case, in my pre-Advil-dosed state, I might not state my opinion in quite the tone of warm concern that I practiced and things escalated to a brawl. Unfortunately, the happy family could not be found in the same aisle with the Advil. And since that is the only aisle I ventured down, it was ultimately a non event.

But I digress.

What I really wanted to complain about today was the fact that everyone on this planet, except me apparently, seems to communicate via email, and somehow I am the one who is in the wrong. It's not a very interesting story, actually, but it annoyed me just the same, so here it is. So after arriving at the camp yesterday, after watching the Tornadoes demonstrate some of their insane new skills, I went around with them to say their goodbyes to the coaches. At which point their coach from home reminded us of the "end of season bbq/banquet" on Sunday afternoon. At which point I couldn't help but think "Dear God, does this NEVER END?" but what I said out loud was "What can we bring?"

I got The Look. I got The Look and The Question. "Didn't you get my email?" This question is usually asked with great impatience. It is not okay to say No, I did not. It is not okay to say, you know what, I check my email about once every two weeks, because it requires effort and time that I do not have left over after working all day and trekking two Tornadoes around all of the rest of the time. It is not okay to say Why can't you just freaking TELL me what I need to bring since I'm STANDING RIGHT HERE? It's really not okay to say anything, because email is the thing now, and I am a bad, bad person for not loving it. Also, because I happen to have had a bit of a tense exchange with this exact same coach, via email, just last week, about another matter, and for a moment I wasn't sure if she was referring to some part of that exchange that I had maybe missed, and I don't think the Advil had completely kicked in by then, I found it best to say nothing.

So I finally checked my stupid email today. And it turns out we are to bring 10 hot dogs, 10 burgers, and their associated buns. That's just weird. I might not have wanted to say that out loud either, if I were her. Also, I have missed relaying to Third Grader that a particular friend of hers would like to get together two weeks ago, because I just saw the email from the child's mother today. Phone, people. Phone. The phone is your friend.

Anyway, I will wrap this up by sharing with you the myriad of ways that I amused myself last week while the Tornadoes were away. Let's see: lots of Boyfriend. Several of my favorite new drink, the Green Melon (vodka and melon puree) with Boyfriend; a three hour hike up Mount Monadnock with Boyfriend; the most amazing pedicure ever (alone) and a visit with my newly-single-again friend, D. And let's not forget work. Because I couldn't forget it, so neither can you.

That's all over with now. For the next few weeks, life is probably going to be mostly about work. Maybe something interesting will show up in my email in the meantime that I could share with you. Except I won't know it's there.