Story of teh Day 5/ 21/ 2009

Aaron went to pick up his cap and gown.
He, and Esther and Sarah had the car packed and ready for their trip to St. Louis, but today is cap and gown pick up day and he had to do this before they could leave.
So, Aaron went to pick up his cap and gown.

Esther’s phone rang. It was Aaron.
“Mom!”
Did they lose his cap and gown?

“Aaron said that Ethan said they are coming for dinner tonight!”
“They are?”“Well are they?”
No. I mean , I don’t’ know. I mean, did I invite them? If I had, I would have written it down.
If I had, and it was Shabbat, and I couldn’t’ write it down, I would have told Larry to remind me. And then he would have reminded me, Motzi Shabbat, and I would have written it down.
I mean, I think I would have.

“I don’t’ think so. I mean maybe no, But I don’t’ know.”
A very pregnant pause.

“I’ll have to get more food.”
This, normally wouldn’t happen. Not the not being sure about something, but the problem over the food.
We eat like pigs.

Nehama once told me, in surprise, “You each eat more than three people!”
None of us has a real weight problem. I am the chubby one- 10 lbs overweight, which I wasn’t, back then, and no one else is even 5 lbs overweight- so when a friend whose family is mostly chubby says that….well, it wasn’t a compliment. But, I must admit, it is true.
But the good part is that when I cook, I cook PLENTY- so company is not a problem, even unexpected company.
Normally.

But Esther ,Aaron and Sarah were headed out of town for the Memorial Day weekend- and I had figured that Larry and I would eat up a lot of the leftovers, with maybe just a nice salad a fresh side dish………
So, dinner was not the usual extensive spread, and the Stufflebeams- Ethan’s family number 7. Most of whom are hungry teenagers.
That is even worse than a Margolis, appetite -wise.
Okay, at the moment, they only number 6, since Jordan is still at Yeshivah in Israel.

So, what do I do?Panic.

I decide I will run out to Trader Joes and buy some chicken. Sigh, that is solved.

But are they coming?

I dial Stacie. No answer at home.
I call her cell. No answer.

I figure out how much time I need to leave to get the chicken. It will be a snap. Shabbat starts late, this time of year. I have hours.

I call Stacie , again.

“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Are you coming for dinner?”

“We’re in Memphis.”

Well, they are probably not coming for dinner, that is a few states away.

“Oh, because Aaron saw Ethan, when they were picking up caps and gowns, and Ethan told him that you were coming for dinner…”
“Oh, well, Ethan didn’t’ want to come with us. And the plans we made for him fell through, and he is all right staying at our house for the weekend, but we told him to go to your house for dinner, and get himself up early enough to go to Etz(synagogue) in the morning, so he can eat lunch there.”

And, she had just , in the bustle of getting her large family out of town, not called me.
Which is a total relief-one extra person, and someone I don’t’ even have to do any extra picking up for.

Except he is going to die from boredom, because he will be stuck here with Larry and me, and no Aaron.
And I am not imagining that.
Aaron told me so.